Birds of Britain 



South-eastern Europe, but it occasionally wanders west- 

 wards and has been taken about four times in this country. 

 The male has the head black, back brownish orange, and 

 under parts bright lemon yellow. The female and young 

 are yellowish brown, and the male in autumn has the 

 bright colours obscured by rufous edgings to the feathers. 

 Length 6*75 in. ; wing 3'7 in. 



THE CORN BUNTING 



Emberiza miliaria, Linnaeus 



One cannot well mistake this species, as he sits on the 

 telegraph wires bordering the road, uttering times without 

 number the long drawn-out " dzree-e-e " that serves him for 

 a song. 



In appearance he much resembles the Skylark, but, un- 

 like that species, which is always so alert and ever on the 

 move, the Corn Bunting spends most of his day sitting in 

 an exposed situation on a hedge or on some tall plant in 

 the open field. The nest is a fairly neat structure of grass, 

 roots, and moss, with a lining of horsehair, and is usually 

 placed on the ground in the middle of a field, and often at 

 no great distance from a bush or some other post of vantage 

 on which, as noted above, he spends the greater part of the 

 day. The eggs are extremely handsome, being of a creamy 

 white boldly blotched and scrolled with very dark brown. 

 Insects and seeds are equally consumed, and both being 

 abundant on the cultivated land, in which he delights, he 

 earns an easy living with the minimum of exertion, 



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