130 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
YELLOW HAMMER. 
{Emberiza citrinella!) 
Yellow Bunting, Yellow Yeldring, Scribbling 
Lark, Writing Lark. — The Yellow Hammer is a 
common and resident species of the fields and com- 
mons in every part of the country, and one of the 
most familiar of British birds. In winter, especially 
in hard weather, it often joins the flocks of Finches 
and Sparrows which hunt for grain and seeds in 
the stubble-fields and rickyards, and the cock birds 
are then the brightest members of these parties. 
The well-known song may usually be heard towards 
the end of February, sometimes at first rather 
faintly and imperfectly, and by that time the 
Yellow Hammers are pairing, and beginning to 
settle down in their summer quarters. They begin 
to nest towards the end of April ; they generally 
have two broods, and eggs or nestlings may not 
uncommonly be found in July, and sometimes even 
in August or early September. As might be ex- 
pected from the general rule that the song of birds 
is closely connected with their period of nesting, 
the Yellow Hammer is also a very late singer, and 
the pleasant but rather monotonous song is very 
familiar along the dustiest high roads in the hottest 
