244 embeuizidjE, 



of this, the nest containing the fourth was for greater safety re- 

 moved to a bank a few feet distant, where the single young one 

 was so well provided with food by its parents, as quickly to grow 

 to an extraordinary size. A similar fact in the case of the red- 

 breast is mentioned in a preceding page ; but, in that instance, the 

 young one was presumed to have died from over-feeding. The 

 stomachs of such of these birds as have come under my observa- 

 tion in winter, generally contained wheat, or some other grain ; 

 together with particles of stone or brick. Yellow yorlin is the 

 common name bestowed on this species in the north of Ireland. 

 — Yellow-hammer is a term likewise used ; but as Mr. Yarrell 

 well remarks, the word should be Ammer, the German of bunting, 

 and not hammer, which is meaningless as applied to this bird. 



About the shooting-lodge at Aberarder, Inverness-shire, a few 

 of these birds were seen by us in September, 1842, although no 

 sparrows were there, and but one robin appeared in the course 

 of several autumns. In Holland, France, and Switzerland, the 

 yellow bunting is commonly met with. The handsome species 

 resembling this, but with a black head — Emb. melanocephala — 

 flew on board H.M.S. Beacon when about eighty miles east of 

 Malta, on the 23rd of April, 1841; and another of these birds 

 was seen in a marshy place between Constantinople and the 

 Valley of Sweet Waters, on the 14th of May. 



The Ciel Bunting {Emb. cirlus), as yet unknown in Ireland, is 

 chiefly confined to the more southern portion of England, where it is 

 indigenous. It has been recorded as occurring in Scotland* only once. 

 The Ortolan Bunting {Emb. hortulana) has in very few instances 

 been obtained in England, but not in Scotland f or Ireland. 



* Jardine and Macgillivray. 

 t Ibid. 



