GIRL BUNTING. 131 



" Beneath the golden gloainin' sky, 

 The mavis mends her lay; 

 The redbreast pours his sweetest strain 

 To charm the lingering day; 

 While weary yeldrins seem to mourn 

 Their little nestlings torn, 

 The merry wren frae den to den 

 Gaes jinking through the thorn." 



I have noticed that in some parts of Ayrshire, where ragweed 

 abounds, the Yellow Hammer is much given to perching upon 

 that plant, the flowers of which closely resemble the colour of its 

 plumage. Its nest is frequently found in grass parks, placed 

 on the ground, and generally under shelter of tufts of ragweed. 

 In the summer of the present year (1869), I observed that this bird 

 was unusually abundant in the county just mentioned, and also 

 in Wigtownshire. The state of the ground probably favoured 

 this partiality the heat for many weeks having been oppressive, 

 with an entire absence of rain, which often inundates their nests 

 in meadows and other pasture lands near the banks of rivers. 



Mr William Sinclair has two bright yellow specimens of 

 this bunting in his possession, which he shot on the island of 

 Gometra some years ago. During their short flights they looked 

 exactly like canaries, the quills being white, and the rest of the 

 plumage of the purest yellow. He had, indeed, some hesitation 

 in shooting them, until he saw their manner of alighting on the 

 ground. As a singular contrast to these extraordinary specimens, 

 I may add that Mr Brown has kindly forwarded to me for inspec- 

 tion a melanoid variety of the bird, which was obtained last year 

 in Kincardineshire. This very curious specimen shows the entire 

 plumage of a dark tint, approaching in some places to black. 



The nest of the Yellow Hammer has been found in Orkney. 



THE GIRL BUNTING. 

 EMBERIZA CIRLUS. 



IN the second volume of the Wernerian Society's Memoirs, p. 658, 

 there is a record of a specimen of the Girl Bunting having been 

 shot near Edinburgh, and exhibited by Mr James Wilson at a 

 meeting of that Society, held on 3d February, 1816. This 

 instance of the species having been found so far north in Britain 



