5 8 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



widely the hedgerows is the YELLOW BUNTING (Embenza 

 distributed, cftrjne Ha), and one of the prettiest, too. You 

 may easily identify him by his canary-coloured 

 head, rich brown upper and yellow under plumage. 

 No skulking bird is he. All day long he may be 

 observed on the topmost twigs, singing his mono- 

 tonous song, or uttering his oft-repeated and even 

 more monotonous call-note a long-drawn churrze, 

 which in spring becomes chee-chee-churrze. His 

 song consists of a single note repeated in various 

 tones several times, finishing with two others, the 

 last continued much longer than the rest. The 

 Yellow Bunting is one of the most persistent 

 singers of the hedges, bird after bird catching up 

 the song, and answering in the same repeated 

 strain. He may also very often be met with on 

 the trees of the hedgerows, especially in winter, 

 and at that season flocks of this pretty bird often 

 settle on the hedges. He feeds largely on insects 

 and larvae in summer, especially caterpillars ; but 

 during the remainder of the year grain and seeds, 

 in great variety, are his staple support. The 

 Yellow Bunting begins to breed in April, and 

 nests may be found from this month onwards to 

 August, so that several broods are reared in the 

 year. The weed-grown bank of the hedgerow or 

 the lane is this bird's favourite nesting-place, and 

 here, often well under the shelter of a tuft of 

 herbage or a bush, it makes its home of dry grass, 

 perhaps a little moss, and lined with roots and 

 horsehair. The four or five eggs are grayish or 

 purplish white, streaked and pencilled, blotched 

 and spotted with dark brown, the finer streaks 

 often joining the round spots and blotches into 

 an intricate tracery. 



