Passeres 



81 



and Shetland. Its heavy flight and droning note dis- 

 tinguish it from all our other Buntings, and it is always 

 in evidence during summer on its favourite perches, 

 which are usually a bush-top or a telegraph-wire. 

 After breeding, it is often seen in flocks, and lives 

 almost entirely on grain. The nest of grass and hair 

 is placed among coarse herbage or in young corn, and 

 the large eggs, which are laid in May or later, have 



Corn-Bunting 



a yellowish or purplish ground-colour, finely blotched 

 and streaked with browns and lilacs. 



A brilliant yellow head, equally bright under parts, 

 and a red-brown rump, hardly marred by brown streaks, 

 are the well-known characteristics of the male Yellow 

 Bunting or Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), while 

 the song of " a little bit of bread and no cheese " and 

 the eggs beautifully spotted and scrawled with purplish 



E. B. 



