208 BIRDS' NESTS. 



tion. So peculiar are its colour and markings 

 that it cannot be confounded with the egg of 

 any other British bird. 



COMMON BUNTING. Emberiza Miliaria. 

 PLATE XVII. FIG. 2. 



THE nest of this bird is usually placed at 

 the border of a field, only a few inches from 

 the ground, and supported by the tangled 

 stems of low shrubs and dry grass. The 

 eggs, which are four or five in number, are 

 about an inch long, of a reddish or purplish 

 white, blotched and speckled with dark purple, 

 and w r ith here and there a few irregular lines 

 of the same colour. 



YELLOW HAMMER. Emberiza Citrinella. 



PLATE XVII. FIG. 3. 



LIKE the last species of bunting, the Yellow 

 Hammer, or Yellow r Bunting, mostly places its 

 nest near the ground, under shelter of a bush 

 at the border of a field, on the skirts of a 

 common, or near the bank of a stream. Its 



