222 THE FOOLISH BUNTING. 



usually lays four or five greyish eggs, mottled and spotted with 

 reddish brown. Towards the end of July the young broods 

 may be observed abroad, especially in cabbage fields, and the 

 neighbourhood of willow trees. 



The bird may be taken in the same manner, and is subject 

 to the same diseases as the Ortolan. 



Attractive Qualities. The male is a very handsome bird ; 

 but its song has nothing remarkable in it. It is like that of the 

 Yellowhammer, and may be expressed by the syllables tzis, 

 tzis, tzis ! Gerr, gerr, gerr ! The call is 2ki, tzi I Tzay,^ tzirr ! 

 It is easy to tame, and will live from four to six years in con- 

 finement. 



ADDITIONAL. The Cirl Bunting was first identified and de- 

 scribed as a British bird, by COL. MONTAGUE, in the winter of 

 1800 ; soon after which, this discriminating and indefatigable na- 

 turalist, as MUDIE justly terms him, discovered the nest of this 

 bird, which must be sought for principally in the southern En- 

 glish counties, where it is permanently resident, frequenting open 

 pastures, grass, and corn fields, and building amid the ground 

 herbage and low bushes. 



According to MUDIE, " In winter the Cirl Buntings associate 

 with the Yellow Buntings, which they resemble in their man- 

 ners, their notes, and partially also, in their appearance, only 

 they are rather smaller, their air is softer, and their colours 

 are more varied, and perhaps, upon the whole, finer. The voice, 

 too, is not so loud or harsh, and the chirp of the female is par- 

 ticularly soft. It appears to be rather more an insectivorous 

 bird than the more common species." 



95. THE FOOLISH BUNTING. 



Emberiza Cia, LIN. Le Bruant Fou, BUF. Der Zipammer, BECH. 



The Foolish Bunting is somewhat smaller than the Yellow- 

 hammer, being six inches in length, of which the tail measures 

 two inches and a half. The beak is five lines long, very pointed, 

 blackish above and greenish below ; the iris is blackish-brown ; 

 the feet nine lines in height, and a brownish flesh- colour ; the 

 head is ashen grey, spotted with red, but marked in the middle 

 with small black stripes, and having an indistinct streak of 

 the same colour on each side. The cheeks are light grey, 

 and a dirty white stripe, beginning at the nostrils, passes 

 above the eyes ; a second stripe, which is black, runs between 



