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Birds. 
and is common in everj' lane, on every hedge, throughout 
the country, flitting before the traveller, and about the 
bushes. Happily for him, we have not yet acquired the 
taste of the natives of Italy, where the Yellowhammer 
falls a daily victim to the delicacy of the table, and 
where its flesh is esteemed very delicious eating. There 
he is often fattened, for the purpose of gratifying the 
palate of epicures. 
The Ortolan, (Emberiza liortulana^) which is another 
species of the same genus, is common in the central and 
southern provinces of Europe, where it is thought exqui- 
sitely flavoured as an article of food. When first taken 
it is frequently very lean, but if supplied with abundance 
of food, it is said to be so greedy, that it will eat till it 
dies of repletion. 
THE WHEATEAB, AND WHIN CHAT. 
(Saxicola amanthe and S. ruhetra.) 
The Wheatkar is one of our earliest visitants, and may 
be found in every part of Britain. In the North, it gene- 
rally frequents heaps of stones, ruins, or the dry stone 
