THE YELLOWHAMMER. 
This handsome little songster belongs to the hunting family; 
indeed, naturalists, one and all, seem resolved not to allow him 
the name by which he is so well known. They insist on styling 
it yellow bunting ; well, let them have their way, and we will 
have onrs. ' I’ll be bound though, that if nine out of every ten 
bird-dealers were applied to for a “ yellow bunting,” they would 
know no more what was meant, than if you inquired for it by 
its Latin name, JSmberiza citrinella. 
It is necessary to give rather a minute description of this 
bird, as it is a very common habit of the bird dealer to sell an 
old hen for a young cock-bird. Indeed the difference between 
the two, especially if the hen be a stout, well-kept bird, is so 
slight as to deceive any but the most wary. 
To Distinguish the Cock prom the Hen. — The cock-yellow- 
hammer is usually from six to seven inches from the tip of his 
beak to the tip of his tail. Its head and neck are of a bright 
yellow splashed with brown spots. This is supposing the bird 
to be under four years old ; after that period the brown spots 
gradually fade out, leaving the head and neck pure yellow, which 
increases in intensity the older the bird grows. This is an 
important consideration, as it is seldom that the bird lives more 
than six years. 
The neck of the male bird is dark green, the back a mixture 
of very dark brown and light red, the breast and belly feathers 
are chrome yellow. The wings are black and light brown edged 
with yellow ; the tail feathers are nearly black, having on the 
two outside feathers a white spot. 
However, there will be little difficulty in distinguishing the 
full-grown male bird from the female, as the latter is smaller, 
the plumage of the head and throat merely tinged with yellow, 
and altogether it has a grey, rather than a yellow appearance. 
When, however, the cock-bird is very young, he much resembles 
the old hen, being of the same size, and bearing the same mark- 
ings, with this difference : the young cock-bird has a golden 
streak over each of his eyes, which the old hen does not 
possess. 
Hesting and Trapping. — The time to go nesting for yellow- 
hammers is about the second week in April, as then the fledg- 
lings will probably be three weeks old. The nest will be found 
in close stunted bushes and even upon the ground, especially 
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