170 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



myself occasionally observed this bird. Since the 

 time of Montagu the Girl Bunting has been found 

 in many other counties, and appears pretty generally 

 spread over England, especially the southern part, 

 but is nowhere very numerous. It is resident here 

 throughout the year, in winter flocking with Yellow- 

 hammers, Chaffinches and other small birds in farm- 

 yards and stubble-fields. 



The food appears to consist of various small seeds 

 and some sorts of grain, in choice of which, however, 

 this bird appears to be rather particular, for Mon- 

 tagu says that wheat and barley were rejected by 

 some young birds which he had in confinement, but 

 oats were greedily devoured after they had been 

 dexterously and quickly deprived of their outer 

 coats : insects also, especially the grasshopper, form 

 part of the food, and the berries of the woody night- 

 shade may also be added to the list* 



The nest is generally placed in a bramble, furze, 

 or some other low bush : it is made of dry stalks 

 moss and roots, lined with hair. 



In plumage the Girl Bunting is not so strikingly 

 handsome as the Yellowhammer. The females of 

 the two species may easily be mistaken for each 

 other. The male has the beak bluish lead-colour ; 

 irides hazel ; head and nape olive-green, with a few 

 narrow streaks of dusky; there is a conspicuous 



* Yurrell, vol. i., p. 521. 



