214 THE YELLOWHAMHEE. 



but in places where it is a rare, and therefore a valued bird, 

 it is generally kept in a large bell-shaped cage. 



Food In summer it chiefly lives on insects, especially cater- 

 pillars, with which, like all birds of its species, it feeds its 

 young. In autumn and winter, however, it eats all kinds of 

 seed and grain, which, by the help of a kind of ridge on the 

 palate, it easily succeeds in shelling. Small seeds, however, 

 such as poppy and rape seed, it swallows whole. Oats seem 

 to be its favourite food. 



To keep the Yellowhammer healthy, it must have a change 

 of food : for example, oats, bread crumbs, meat, poppy seed, 

 soaked hemp seed, &c. If, however, allowed to range the 

 room, it will thrive best on the second universal paste. I have 

 noticed that all which I have myself kept occasionally swallow 

 fresh black earth, I suppose in order to assist the process of 

 digestion. They are also fond of bathing. 



Breeding. It breeds twice a year : the first time, either at 

 the end of May or the beginning of April. The nest is built 

 in hedges, or bushes, or even in mossy places on the ground, 

 of grass stalks artfully woven together, and is lined with horse 

 or cow hair. The female lays four or five eggs, in colour dirty 

 white, spotted with light brown. When reared from the nest, 

 the males learn to imitate the song of the Finch, as well as 

 passages from that of other birds. 



Diseases. Decline is the disease to which these birds are 

 most subject, though they also moult with great difficulty, and 

 often die during the process. The best prevention of this is to 

 feed them, during that critical period, with ants' eggs. 



Mode of Taking. In winter, the Yellowhammer may easily 

 be caught in gardens, either by the clap net, with oats as a 

 bait, or by a sieve, propped up with a stick, to which a string 

 is attached. As soon as the bird is observed underneath the 

 sieve, the support is pulled away. They may sometimes be 

 decoyed by another bird into the barn-floor trap, and in spring 

 are not unfrequently caught by a bird-call. 



Attractive Qualities. The Yellowhammer is a beautiful bird, 

 although in the course of the five or six years during which it 

 may be kept alive in confinement, the golden yellow of its plu- 

 mage becomes continually paler. Its song, though in no way 

 remarkable, is pleasant. It consists of seven or eight clear 

 notes, tee, tee, tee, tehee ! all of which are alike, except the last, 



