70 The Yellow Ammer. 
_ In the summer, when the weather is hot, wherever 
there is a lane bounded by furze-bushes, or an old 
hedge of short height and long standing, time having 
made some little impression upon it, this bird may be 
seen with its bright yellow breast, giving, as it were, a 
beauty-spot to the scenery around, perched on the top 
of a hedge-stake, or on the summit of a dead stick pro- 
jecting from the hedgerow higher than another. And 
as the traveller goes along the dusty road, this bird 
flits before him with a dipping flight, settling again on 
the top of the hedge and sounding its short note, allow- 
ing the pedestrian to come within a few yards, when 
off he goes again, and performs the same movement 
he did before; this is done two or three times, when 
perhaps thinking he has gone far enough away from 
his selected dwelling-place, he flies back sometimes 
over the observer’s head, uttering his simple note, and 
again alighting near the place from where he was first 
started. At this time of the year, in the afternoon, 
when most of our feathered songsters have bid adieu 
to their vocal powers for the season, perhaps thinking 
they shall have quite enough to do to find food for 
their young and keep a sharp look-out for winter, this 
bird seems to enjoy a little song to itself, which con- 
