480 EMBERIZID A. 
frequent occurrence in many of the cultivated districts of 
this country, and remains here throughout the year ; it is 
perhaps more numerous in the southern counties of Eng- 
land than elsewhere, and is most frequently observed about 
cornfields, whence one of its provincial appellations, that of 
Corn Bunting,—a name by which it is also known in Scot- 
land. Durimg spring and summer, this bird, the largest 
of the true Buntings, may be often seen perched on the 
upper branch in a tall hedge, or on the top of a low tree, 
uttering his harsh unmusical notes, which are sometimes 
continued while on wing as he flies from spray to spray. 
The nest is finished about the middle or towards the end 
of April; it is usually placed on or very near the ground, 
frequently sustained a few inches above it by the strength 
of the coarse herbage or tangled briers among which it is 
concealed. The nest is composed of straw and fibrous 
roots, mixed with some dry grass, and lined with hair. 
The eggs are four or five in number, of a reddish white, or 
pale purple red ground, streaked and spotted with dark 
purple brown ; the length one inch by eight lines and a 
half in breadth. 
The adult birds feed principally on grain and seeds, for 
the breaking down or shelling of which the palatal knob 
of the upper mandible, and the elevated cutting edges of 
the lower one, are admirably adapted ; the young birds while 
nestlings are probably fed with insects and their larve. 
Mr. Gould mentions having seen the adult birds feeding 
on the common cockchaffer. 
Though living in pairs during the spring and summer, 
this species become gregarious through autumn and winter, 
flying in flocks with Chaffinches, Sparrows, and other vi- 
sitors to the farm-yard and barn-door for the sake of the 
grain to be there obtained. One destructive habit of this 
