18 BRITISH BIRDS 
bright yellow margins to the inner secondaries and tail- 
feathers. 
Nest. Place: long grass, furze, or low bushes on commons 
or downs. Material: grass, roots, stalks, &c., lined with finer 
material, usually grass. 
Eggs. Usually 4-6. Rather variable in colour. Usually 
greyish or yellowish-white with lines, streaks, and spots of 
dark brown and under-markings of pale violet. Rare varieties 
are pure white or tinged reddish-brown. Av. size, ‘95 x °69 in. 
Laying begins June-July, sometimes May. Broods 1-2. 
24. Yellow-bunting or Yellow-hammer [Lmberiza citri- 
nella Linneeus}]. Resident and common. 
Bird. Length 650 in. Distinguished by the lemon-yellow 
head, neck, and under-parts, and by the chestnut rump. The 
yellow on the head, neck, and forebreast 
is banded with dark greenish-yellow 
(Fig. 16). The under-parts are streaked 
with chestnut. Mantle and wing-coverts 
dull red, striped black. The two outer 
tail-feathers on each side have white 
Fig. 16. patches. Female and young much less 
brilliant, and have the crown dull olive- 
brown, streaked black. 
Nest. Place: usually on or near-the ground in hedges, 
bushes, or banks. Occasionally in hay-stacks. Material: 
grasses, bents, a little moss or leaves, lined with horse-hair. 
Eggs. Usually 3-5. Pale purplish-white scrawled and 
streaked with dark brown, with a few fainter violet markings. 
Rare varieties have a white, also a reddish ground. Av, size, 
*83 x62 in. Laying begins April-May. Broods 2-3. 
25. Cirl-bunting [Hmberiza cirlus Linneus]. In England 
and Wales local and more or less stationary. Absent N. Eng- 
land. Very rare in Scotland and Ireland. 
Bird. Length 64 in. Like the yellow-hammer, but distin- 
guished by the black throat and lores, and the olive-green 
rump. Below the black of the throat is a bright yellow band, 
followed by a sage-green band, and reddish-brown stripes on 
the flanks. Belly yellow. Crown and nape olive-green with 
black streaks, mantle chestnut. The female has the throat 
pale yellow striated with black. Distinguished from the 
female yellow-hammer by the olive-green rump. 
Nest. As the yellow-hammer. 
Eggs. Usually 3-5. Pale bluish or greenish-white with the 
markings bolder and darker, as a rule, than those of the yellow- 
hammers, which they sometimes resemble very closely. Av- 
size, °83x°63 in. Laying begins in May. Broods 1-2. 
