COMMON BUNTING. 481 
bird is thus described by the author of the Journal of a Na- 
turalist. ‘It could hardly be supposed that this bird, not 
larger than a Lark, is capable of domg serious injury ; yet 
I this morning witnessed a rick of barley, standing in a 
detached 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 contain.” 
This bird generally roosts in thick bushes, particularly 
during the cold nights of winter; but many of them also 
pass the night on the ground in stubble fields, and are 
caught with Sky Larks in the nets employed for that pur- 
pose, and are brought with them to market for the use of 
the table. The general resemblance of this Bunting to 
the Sky Lark in the colour of its plumage, has given 
origin to another provincial name by which it is known, 
that of the Bunting Lark. 
The Common Bunting is well known around London, and 
is also to be found in suitable localities in all the southern 
counties of England, from Sussex to Cornwall. Mr. Eyton 
says it is common in Shropshire and North Wales; and 
Mr. Thompson sends me word that it is common and in- 
digenous to Ireland. North of London it is found in Suf- 
folk and Norfolk, is more rare in some parts of Derbyshire, 
and is said not to be partial to rocky or mountainous coun- 
tries; it occurs in Lancashire and Yorkshire ; is included 
by Mr. Selby in his Catalogue of the Birds of Durham and 
Northumberland, and by Dr. Heysham in his Birds of 
Cumberland. Sir William Jardine, Bart., who has most 
kindly furnished me with notes on the localities of birds 
in Scotland, as noticed in the account of the Snow Bunt- 
ing, last described, says of the Corn Bunting, as it is 
there called, that it frequents the lower straths, or broad 
VOL. I. II 
