BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
or rye-grass, uttering all the while a coUection of harsh 
notes at a somewhat rapid rate, which has been likened 
to the jmgling of a bunch of keys. This may go on with 
monotonous repetition for several minutes, after which 
he wiU fly off awkwardly towards the centre of the field, 
with his legs hanging down as if broken, where he will 
land for a short time before returning to his original or other 
perch. Corn-Buntings are late nesters, and are now only 
bringing up their broods in the thick clovered patch of a 
rolling field of rye-grass." 
THE YELLOW BUNTING. Ember iza citrinella, Linn^us. 
Local names— Yellow Hammer ; Yoit ; Yellow Yite • 
Yeorlin ; Yeldrock. 
A common resident in the arable and lower pastoral districts, gathering 
into small flocks as autumn advances. 8«"iermg 
The superstition still survives that the Yellow Bunting 
has some connection with his Satanic majesty. I quote 
three doggerels, formerly more often heard. 
" The Robin and the Wren, are God's right hand • 
The Yeldrock and the Sparrow, are the devil's bow and arrow."* 
MacgiUivray mentions that in some parts of Scotland 
their dolorous ditty is interpreted as ' Deil, Deil, Deil, 
take ye ' ; that is the cruel nesters, and for this reason 
probably the YeUow Bunting is named the 'Devil's 
Bird.'^"t In some " Reminiscences " pubhshed in 1867 we 
read, " The boys at school had a barbarous practice of trans- 
fixing Yellow Hammers, all the while repeating this rhyme " : 
" Half a paddock^ half a toad, (or ta'ed) 
Half a Yellow Yeorlin, 
Drinks a drap o' the de'il's bluid 
Every Monday morning, "§ 
* A Country Schoolmaster, 1899, p. 31. 
t MacgiUivray, Hist, Brit. Birds, 1837, Vol. I., p. 49. 
t Paddock — frog. 
§ Dumfries Courier, July 30th, 1867. 
