482 



HABITS AND VOICE OF THE BUNTING. 



various grass seeds, especially those of the stronger species, so that it often does good 

 service to the farmer, by preventing the increase of these very stubborn weeds. The 

 millet is a very favourite article of food, ao may be supposed from the specific name of 

 miliaris, which has been given to the bird Ijy systematic zoologists, and considerable 

 injury is often done to the "millet crops by the attacks of the Bunting. 



When hard pressed for food, it is capable of doing no small damage, as may be seen 

 m Mr. Knapp's " Journal of a Naturalist." " I was this day (January. 25) led to reflect 



upon the extensive injury that might be pro- 



from 



duced by the agency of a very insignificant in- 

 strument, in observing the operations of the 

 common Bunting, a bird that seems to live 

 principally, if not entirely, on seeds, and has 

 its mandibles constructed in a very peculiar 

 manner, to aid this established appointment 

 of its life. In the winter season it will 

 frequent the stacks in the farmyard, in com- 

 pany with others, to feed upon any corn that 

 may be found scattered about ; but, little 

 mclined to associate with man, it prefers 

 those situations which are most lonely and 

 distant from the village. 



It would hardly be supposed that this 

 bird, not larger than a lark, is 'capable of 

 doing serious injury ; yet I this morning 

 witnessed a rick of barley standing in a dis- 

 tant field, entirely stripped of its thatching, 

 which this Bunting effected by seizing the 

 end of the straw, and deliberately drawing 

 it out, to search for any grain the ear might 

 yet contain ; the base of the rick being 

 entirely surrounded by the straw, one end 

 resting against the ground, the other against 

 the mow, as it S'id down from the summit ; 

 and so completely was the thatching puUed 

 off, that the immediate renewal of the cover 

 became necessary. The sparrow and other 

 birds burrow into the stack, and pilfer the 

 corn, but the deliberate operation of unroofing 

 the edifice appears to be the habit of this 

 Bunting alone." 



During the autumn and winter, the Bunt- 

 ings assemble in flocks, and as they get very 

 fat about that time, the young birds are 

 thought to be great delicacies, and are killed 

 in great numbers for the table, being often 

 sold under the name of larks, from which, 

 however, they may be easily distinguished, 

 by the short bill with the knob on the palate. In some parts of England these birds are 

 captured alive, and fattened with millet for the table. The roosting-place of the Bunting 

 is generally in thick, low bushes, but it sometimes rests for the night in stubble fields, 

 where it is caught, together with the lark, in the nets used for the purpose. 



The Bunting has no song, its voice being a harsh and rather jarring scream, which it 

 is very fond of uttering, especially when it is observed or anxious, so that it frequently 

 betrays the position of its home through its very desire to conceal it. The nest of this 

 bird is a tolerably made edifice, composed of grasses, roots, and hair, the latter substance 

 being used as the lining. It contains about five eggs, of a grey-white, tinged with red or 



BUNTING.— Smfteru'a vvU&rts. 



