4 i2 PERCHING BIRDS. 



jet-black, and the under-surface of the body bright yellow, except that the chest is 

 banded by a zone of chestnut. The female is greyish brown, like a hen-sparrow, 

 above ; the lower-parts being pale yellow, striped on the flanks with dark brown. 



The yellow bunting (E. citrinella) is a common bird in Northern 

 Yellow Bunting. _ ,. , . , ' . , ,. ... 



Europe, extending eastwards into feiberia, and frequenting alike the 



more cultivated valleys of Norway and the south of Europe. Mr. Dresser observes 

 that it is to be seen on almost every hedgerow in many parts of England. " Perched 

 on the top of the highest available twig, the male may be heard incessantly pouring 

 out his monotonous but not disagreeable song, and during the breeding-season his 

 notes fall upon the ear from the early morn till late into the evening. As twilight 

 sets in, the yellow bunting may still be heard, and is perhaps the last bird to 

 give a parting note to the retiring day, witn the exception of his congener the 

 corn-bunting, who sings till it is quite dusk." The yellow bunting generally nests 

 upon some bank, occasionally in a furze bush. The eggs are white, scribbled over 

 with fine, hair-like markings. In autumn the yellow buntings collect in flocks, 

 feeding on blackberries and other wild fruits, as well as upon all the grain that 

 they can glean in the open fields. As the season advances, they seek the neigh- 

 bourhood of homesteads, and search for worms and other insects upon heaps of 

 manure. Although the yellow bunting is generally supposed to be a resident 

 species in Great Britain, there can be no doubt that it is only a summer visitant to 

 its more northern breeding-grounds. Large numbers of this species sometimes 

 occur on migration at Heligoland. The male has the head and throat bright yellow, 

 and the back brown, inclined to rufous, all the feathers having dark centres ; the 

 wings and tail are blackish brown, the outer tail-feathers having the inner webs 

 partly white. In winter the plumage is rendered more dingy by fulvous edgings 

 to the feathers. The female is greyish brown above, having the lower parts of the 

 back, the rump, and upper tail-coverts pale cinnamon ; the lower-parts being citron 

 yellow and the upper breast mottled with brown and tinged with olive- 

 green. 



Closely allied to the last, but more pleasing in both character 

 and coloration, is the cirl bunting (E. cirlus), which is thinly dis- 

 tributed through Central Europe, being in some districts even more common than 

 the yellow bunting, but generally taking rank as a scarce bird. English ornithologists 

 know it best as a resident in the southern counties, particularly in the west ; but it 

 has nested as far north as Yorkshire. It is numerous in North Devon, around 

 Barnstaple especially, where it is a shier bird than the yellow bunting, and is fond 

 of concealing itself in the spring and summer in thick hedges. Both in the spring 

 and again in the autumn the male bird is often to be seen perched on the branch 

 of some hedgerow elm, from whence he delivers his very unpretending song. 



In Germany the cirl bunting is migratory, leaving its northern habitat in 

 November, perhaps even much earlier, and wintering far to the southward, and 

 returning in April. It frequents the same kind of places as the yellow bunting, 

 such as the bushy banks of streams, meadows, and hedges, small groves and 

 mountainous districts in the neighbourhood of fields and gardens. In many other 

 respects the cirl bunting resembles the yellow bunting. In spring it prefers to take 

 up its position in a high and open place on the tops of trees, but later in the season 



