CIRL BUNTING 
133 
Montagu, near Kingsbridge, in South Devon, in 
1800. It is not a difficult bird to recognise; 
probably the note will first attract the attention, 
and this will be traced to a bird of the Yellow 
Hammer's size, perched somewhere in the upper 
branches of an elm or other good-sized tree. In 
such a situation it is difficult to see the colours of 
a bird's plumage, and it is the way in which the 
Cirl Bunting sits and repeats its song in these 
upper boughs, together with the character of the 
song itself, which helps to identify it best. The 
song is a strong, repeated trill on the same rather 
high note, abruptly beginning and ending ; it 
comes, in fact, extremely close to the Yellow 
Hammer's song, without the two last notes — 
" no cheese " — which are the most musical and 
characteristic part of it, but is thicker and slower 
in delivery, being thus more closely akin to the 
stammering cry of the Corn Bunting. It is heard 
far on into the summer, like the songs of its two 
relatives. The Cirl Bunting is warm mottled 
brown on most of the upper parts, much like the 
Yellow Hammer ; there are also some yellow 
markings about the eye and throat, and, in the 
cock bird, also on the belly ; but the crown of 
the head is brownish like the back, while there are 
conspicuous black patches about the face, so that 
this species is a good deal less of a gilded bird in 
