166 
BEAUTIFUL BIRDS. 
titucles disperse themselves all over the country in 
pairs. They build their nest near the ground, of dry 
grasses, and line it with hair and dried fibres ; selecting 
a corn-field, or, more frequently, ditch hanks well pro- 
tected by the brambles and briars which have been 
allowed to grow wild. Their eggs are of a greyish- 
yellow tint, very pale, spotted and veined with reddish- 
brown. While the female is fulfilling her vocation of 
hatching the young, the male bird .makes choice of a 
lofty twig, upon a tall hedge, where he perches himself 
in his pride, and delights himself and his mate with 
his singular and somewhat irregular notes. 
The Yellow Hammer {Emheriza citrinella) , or, as it 
is also called, the Yellow Bunting, is beautifidly and 
delicately coloured ; it is, however, so abundant that 
our admiration is rarely excited by its beauty, and it 
is chiefly regarded by the farmer as an unwelcome in- 
truder into the yard where his cereal crops are stacked. 
In winter the Yellow Buntings may be seen united 
ill little flocks by themselves, or sometimes asso- 
ciating themselves with the larger bodies of the Com- 
mon Bunting. The male cheers his mate, while engaged 
ill the tedious task of incubation, in a manner similar 
to that adopted by the Common Bunting ; and if 
approached, he takes his flight along the hedge, alight- 
ing at a little distance, and resuming his song ; if 
followed, he repeats his flight. This species of the 
Bimting builds upon the ground, in dwarf bushes^ 
among beds of nettles, or other low herbage, forming 
its nest of dried grasses, and lining it with hair. Its 
eggs are of a pale purplish white, streaked and covered 
with chocolate-coloured marks. 
