MEADOW BUNTING. 49 



own family. Its motion on the ground is heavy, and 

 it has a quick, wavy, or jerking flight. Its habits 

 altogether are very similar to those of the Yellowhammer. 



Its call-note is a short sharp f zi-zi-zi,' which some- 

 times sounds like 'zip,' and hence its German name. 

 The song of the male is very similar to that of the 

 Yellowhammer, but shorter and clearer. Bechstein 

 expresses its note as f zi-zi-zi-zirr-zirr,' others as 'zip- 

 zip-zip-zai-zip-zip-zip-zi.' It is a diligent songster, and 

 often sits upon the top of a rather low tree or bush. 

 When kept in confinement the Meadow Bunting is 

 sometimes heard to sing at night. It is a pleasant 

 bird in a room, and soon becomes very domestic, and 

 may be kept for several years. Bechstein had a pair 

 which he kept for several years. They are very affec- 

 tionate to each other, and live sociably with different 

 birds in confinement, preferring the Yellowhammer. 



The Meadow Bunting feeds upon insects, grass seeds, 

 oats, and millet seeds. It will also eat hemp and 

 poppy seed, and in confinement become quite content 

 and healthy upon this food, with the addition of a 

 little bread soaked in milk; as a treat nothing is so 

 welcome as ants' eggs or a mealworm. 



Naumann further remarks that they breed certainly 

 in Germany, in Austria more frequently, but in Italy 

 plentifully. The nest he describes as like that of the 

 Yellowhammer, and the eggs similar to those of that 

 bird, but they may be readily distinguished from both 

 it and every other Bunting. They are roundish, short, 

 and oval; dirty or greyish white, with many reddish 

 and rust-brown streaks and hairs marked upon them. 

 There are also shorter streaks, which the other Bun- 

 tings have not. Brehm, in his description of the egg 

 in Biideker's work upon European eggs, says, "It 



