162 BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



ledges, bearing not the least resemblance to their 

 elders, young Black-headed Gulls in mixed brown and 

 white livery, hailing from their gullery upon some 

 Norfolk " broad " or North Lancashire " moss," 

 while, further to complicate matters, the young 

 Common Gulls, bred upon the Highland lochs, now 

 make their appearance, to be dubbed " blue " or 

 " speckled " gulls by the east coast fishermen. One 

 welcomes such a distinctive mark as the black collar 

 by which the young Kittiwake may be known in 

 a moment. With the larger gulls the adult dress is 

 only gradually assumed ; apparently not till the fourth 

 or fifth year is it complete in every detail. The rela- 

 tionship of the young Cormorants, brown-backed and 

 white-fronted, to their sable elders, is also far from 

 being evident at the first glance. 



Though bird- voices in August are quiet and subdued, 

 yet a few songs break the general silence. Foremost 

 are those of the several members of the bunting family, — 

 late in song because late to breed. The Yellow- 

 hammer's lilt is still heard by the dusty roadside, 

 where as a perch he seems to prefer the telegraph 

 wires to the twigs of bush and brier which suit the 

 taste of finch and linnet. How many know the 

 CM Bunting ? — a yellow-hammer but for his black 

 throat and for his song which is in a different key and 

 wants the yellow-hammer's final flourish, being in 

 fact a monotonous trill, to be syllabled as " zi, zi, zi." 



