THE COMMON BUNTING. 253 



this established appointment of its life. In the 

 winter season it will frequent the stacks in the farm- 

 yard, in company with others, to feed upon any 

 corn that may be found scattered about ; but, little 

 inclined to any association with man, it prefers 

 those situations which are most lonely and distant 

 from the village. It could hardly be supposed that 

 this bird, not larger than a lark, is capable of doing 

 serious injury; yet I this morning witnessed a rick 

 of barley, standing in a detached field, entirely 

 stripped of its thatching, which this bunting ef- 

 fected by seizing the end of the straw, and delibe- 

 rately drawing it out, to search for any grain the 

 ear might yet contain ; the base of the rick being 

 entirely surrounded by the straw, one end resting 

 on the ground, the other against the mow, as it slid 

 down from the, summit, and regularly placed as if 

 by the hand ; and so completely was the thatching 

 pulled off, that the immediate removal of the corn 

 became necessary. The sparrow and other birds 

 burrow into the stack, and pilfer the corn ; but the 

 deliberate operation of unroofing the edifice appears 

 to be the habit of this bunting alone. 



Old simplicities, tokens of winds and weather, 

 and the plain observances of rural life, are every 

 where waning fast to decay. Some of them may 

 have been fond conceits ; but they accorded with 

 the ordinary manners of the common people, and 

 marked times, seasons, and things, with sufficient 



