YELLOW BUNTING. 
243 
and snow, buntings not only betake themselves to the roads for 
subsistence, but may be seen at such times in the less-frequented 
streets and stable-yards of the town of Belfast. The plumage of 
this species is very liable to be varied with white or cream-colour, 
and when with the latter, some which I have seen were of a very 
rich and handsome appearance. Mr. R. Chute mentions his having 
obtained them in Kerry as yellow as the canary finch. On 
opening buntings killed in winter, I have generally found them 
filled with grain ; sometimes with the seeds of weeds, in addition 
to which were fragments of stone. They possess a very strong 
gizzard. 
YELLOW BUNTING. 
Yellow Ammer. Yellow Yorlin. 
Emberiza citrinella, Linn. 
Is common in suitable localities throughout the island, 
and is resident. 
This handsome bird, differing from the last-noticed species in 
being a constant resident about the farm, and precincts of the rural 
dwelling, is very well known in Ireland. Its monotonous, and to 
my ear, mournful song, interpreted in Scotland as resembling the 
words, “ rMilj de’il, de’il, take ye , that is, the cruel nesters,'' * 
is heard in mild weather throughout the greater part of the 
year. It sometimes breeds very late. The nest, from being placed 
in an open hedge or bare grassy ditch-bank, is often easily dis- 
covered. A person well versed in the sites chosen by birds for 
their nests, informs me, that he has most frequently found that of 
the yellow bunting in furze. A note is before me of one situated 
like a lark's on the ground in the middle of a field. It was lined 
as usual with hair, and contained the full number of eggs on the 
25th of April. In a friend's garden near Belfast, a pair of these 
birds built their nest at the edge of a gravel-walk, and brought out 
four young, three of which were soon destroyed. In consequence 
Macgillivray, B. B. vol. i, p. 449. 
n 2 
