38 
YELLOW-HAMMER. 
winter months with flocks of other species, as well as of their 
own. They roost generally on the ground, and you may see 
them in the dusk of the evening, when they are retiring to 
rest, flitting about in numbers on the sides of banks, disturbed 
by your approach. In very cold weather they are said to 
seek for the night the shelter of bushes, ivy, and shrubs, as 
a protection against the ‘cauld blast,’ which the houseless and 
homeless wanderer instinctively shrinks from encountering on 
the wide heath, the solitary moor, or the lonely road; when 
it is a 
‘Winter’s evening, 
And fast falls down the snow.* 
The male bird is carefully attentive to the female when 
engaged during the period of incubation with her maternal 
duties, brings her food, and takes his turn in sitting upon 
the eggs. They have a habit, when perched, of flirting the 
tail up and down, when it is also slightly expanded. Both 
shew much affection for their young, and in many cases, if 
not in all, the parent birds keep in company throughout the 
winter, frequently with their family also. Even when large 
flocks are collected together in hard weather, it is very pro¬ 
bable that the members of the different families are still united 
to each other in some degree, and so contiuue until in the 
following season they disperse to become the several heads of 
families themselves. Like others of their tribe, these birds 
occasionally dust themselves in the roads, and at such times, 
and indeed frequently at others, may be approached quite 
closely. They are reckoned good eating, and great quantities 
are taken on the continent for the purpose. Meyer possessed 
one which continued for several weeks to feed a young Cuckoo, 
which had been placed in the same cage in which it was kept; 
and it did this, not with that food which it took by choice 
itself, but with that which was most congenial to the voracious 
appetite of its adopted child. 
Their flight is strong, quick, and undulated, and they alight 
suddenly and unexpectedly, displaying the feathers of the tail 
at the time. They move along the ground, when feeding, 
by a series of very short leaps, in a horizontal position, with 
the breast nearly touching the ground. When perched, the 
tail is much deflected, hanging down as if the bird were 
listless, and this attitude is often continued for some time. 
Their food consists of grain and other seeds, and occasion- 
