162 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



THE YELLOW BUNTING. 



Of the many gaily dressed birds which frequent our 

 fields and hedgerows, few are dressed more splendidly 

 than the Yellow Bunting. A bird of the fields and 

 woodlands, we find him round the hedgerows, on the 

 borders of woods and shrubberies, on the highways, in 

 the fields and gardens, on the borders of the moors, and 

 occasionally far on their barren wastes. There are few 

 hedgerows without the Yellow Bunting, and whet^e the 

 hedges are wanting we find him on the trees and walls. 

 On the outskirts of the moors, too, we see him perched 

 on the stunted bushes or rocky boulders, and his short 

 and monotonous song, and still more monotonous call 

 notes, break the stillness of the solitudes around. Like 

 most birds kno^\ai as Finches, and whose food consists 

 for the greater part of seeds, the Yellow Bunting resides 

 with us the year throughout. He is a bird easily recog- 

 nised by his canary-coloured under parts, rich brown 

 back, and yellow crown. WTien in motion the white 

 feathers in the tail show themselves. His call notes, too, 

 are harsh and monotonous, and most frequently uttered 

 when he is at rest. The tail also is continual!}- jerked 

 with a slow and regular motion. A little after the 

 vernal equinox the Bunting commences to sing. Perched 

 on a hedgerow, wall, tree, bush, or sometimes on the 

 ground, he will sit and sing, if not disturbed, for a coji- 



