FRINGILLID^E. 97 



a Chaffinch is worth a cow/ A common workman will 

 give a louis-d'or (sixteen shillings) for a Chaffinch he ad- 

 mires, and willingly live on bread and water to gain the 

 money. An amateur cannot hear one that sings in a supe- 

 rior style the double trill of the Hartz, without being in an 

 ecstasy/' (PI. VII. fig. 38.) 



THE COMMON, OR CORN BUNTING. Emberiza miliaria. 

 This species is very common at least in many parts of 

 Britain, and known to a great extent over the European 

 continent. Its nest, built on or near the ground, usually in 

 fields of grass or corn or other herbage, is rather coarsely 

 constructed externally, of sticks, roots, dried grasses, and 

 moss, lined with finer grasses and a few hairs. The eggs 

 may be distinguished from those of any other Bunting by 

 their superior size, and are often of a dull or dusky ground- 

 colour (though sometimes it is said the ground is nearly 

 white), streaked and spotted with grey and purple- brown. 

 They are four or five in number. 



THE YELLOW BUNTING. Emberiza citrinella. This 

 bird is better known provincially by the name of Yellow 

 Hammer, and in its spring plumage is often a remarkably 

 handsome bird. In some districts it is exceedingly abun- 

 dant, but is said to decrease in number towards the northern 



H 



