: 
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Se es oe 
Wheat; Av 
aN 
ee 
SE es Fs 
suk oti 
we & 
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es OR RA ee 
ae ee PO ed ee ee 
141 
BUNTING. 
COMMON BUNTING. CORN BUNTING. BUNTING LARK. 
PLATE LXXVI. 
Einberiza miliaria, ; Pennant. Montacu. Berwick. 
NIDIFICATION commences towards the end of April. 
The nest, which is begun and finished in the course 
of this month, is usually placed on the ground, or only 
slightly raised above it by coarse herbage, and fre- 
quently on a bank, sometimes in a bush, or under a 
hedge, among the grass, is composed of dry straws 
and grasses, lined with smaller grasses, and small fibrous 
roots, moss, and hair, rather neatly, but not finely, 
compacted. It is somewhat large and thick, but shallow 
inside. 
The eggs, generally four, or rarely five or six, in 
number, and of an obtuse oval shape, are of a whitish 
colour, with a slight tinge of grey or red, sometimes 
pale purple red, streaked and spotted in a very ir- 
regular manner with dark purple brown and pale 
greyish purple. They differ a good deal in size, shape, 
and colour. In some the ground-colour is nearly white. 
One variety is of a dull grey, the larger end marked 
with pale reddish brown and some dark marks, a few 
of which are scattered over the surface. 
Another is yellowish brown, with a few darker marks 
of the same. : 
VOL. I. U 
