GREENFINCH— YELL O W B UNTING 1 5 5 



Living, as a rule, in quiet and concealment, the cock greenfinch, as the pairing- 

 season approaches, becomes noticeable on account of his incessant singing and 

 remarkable courting flight. With wings raised high, he flies upwards in a sloping 

 direction, describing several circles in the air before returning to his perch. As 

 he rises he sings ; the twittering song consisting of a few original notes and 

 several imitations. Greenfinches often nest in company; they are almost as 

 gregarious as sparrows, and do not quarrel with others of their kind on account of 

 their nesting-places. The nest, which is built in all sorts of bushes and trees 

 at a height of from 5 to 20 feet from the ground, sometimes contains eggs so 

 early as the first half of April. In some districts a second brood follows in July. 

 The young are at first fed on insects and their larvae, and later on have a 

 course of berries before taking to their full diet of seeds. Seeds, berries, and 

 buds constitute, with other substances, the food of the greenfinch, which is picked 

 from the ground as well as from the plants themselves; the favourite seed 

 being that of the hemp. Although in Germany and certain other parts of the 

 Continent the greenfinch is mainly a bird-of-passage, departing in autumn to 

 warmer climes, yet some individuals may be seen throughout the year, while 

 in winter others probably arrive from the north. Large flocks migrate to the 

 coasts of the Mediterranean and north-west Africa. The range of the greenfinch 

 includes the whole of Europe, Asia Minor, Persia, Turkestan, and Siberia to about 

 long. 70° E. In Scandinavia it nests up to about 65° N. It is found in all the 

 British Isles, even in the Orkneys, the residents being reinforced from the east 

 every autumn, and from the south eveiy autumn and spring : the migrants are 

 invariably of a brighter colour than the native birds. 



Less familiar than the finches are many members of the bunting 

 ^ me ' group, all of which are characterised by the peculiar gap in the beak. 

 For the most part denizens of the temperate and colder regions of the Eastern 

 Hemisphere, buntings spend most of their time on the ground, and build 

 their nests in low bushes, laying therein faintly scribbled eggs. The species 

 best known in Europe, the yellow bunting (Emberiza citrinella), is found 

 in wooded and bushy districts near water, in enclosures and gardens, woods on 

 headlands, willow - plantations, river -banks and tall hedges, especially in the 

 proximity of cornfields, and particularly fields of oats. It ranges all over Europe, 

 up to the Arctic Circle and beyond, and as high as the tree-line in the Alps, every- 

 where avoiding bare heaths, old timber-forests, and reedy ponds. In the autumn 

 these birds are met with in flocks on ploughed fields ; and during snow they will come 

 into the villages, to leave them as soon as a thaw sets in. Except in breeding-time, 

 they are often seen in the company of other buntings, sparrows, hawfinches, crested 

 larks, crows, and jackdaws ; and at all times they have a remarkable attachment 

 to the fieldfare. In summer, insects and their larvse, in winter, berries and seeds, 

 form the food of the yellow bunting. The nest, the situation of which the cock-bird 

 reveals by his perpetual singing, is made on the ground, in a shrub, in long 

 grass, underneath clods, stones, or in some such shelter. In April and June, and 

 sometimes even as late as August, the eggs may be found. Except in southern 

 Italy, the yellow bunting nests all over Europe. The song of this species is not 



