YELLOW HAMMER— CIRL BUNTING. 
73 
— that they breed very late ; " and therefore it is no 
wonder that they protract their song : for I lay it down as 
a maxim in ornithology, that as long as there is any 
incubation going on there is music." 
A nest was found at Laverstoke on May 22nd, 1897, 
in which were three yellow hammer's eggs and one white- 
throat's. The whitethroat was leaving the nest as it was 
discovered, and presumably had just laid. 
85. Emberiza cirlus. Cirl Bunting. 
A local resident throughout the county and the Isle of 
Wight. 
This handsome bird is highly characteristic of the 
southern portions of the county and the coast districts of 
the island, and is also found commonly in most inland 
localities, but not in all. 
It is somewhat remarkable that it was unknown to 
Gilbert White, being first discovered as a British bird by 
his correspondent, Montagu, in Devonshire, only eleven 
years after the publication of the History of Selborne. 
Two letters from Montagu to White are preserved in 
Bell's edition, but they contain no allusion to the cirl 
bunting. 
In the second volume of the " Naturalist " the late 
Mr. Blyth remarked that the cirl is " nowhere more 
plentiful than in the vicinity of Alton, whence it is strange 
that Gilbert White should have overlooked it." The date 
of this communication is 1837. 
Professor Bell, who edited one of the best editions 
of White's Selborne, himself lived at the Wakes for more 
