distinction were it not everywhere so common; and his song
also, though doubtless heard with rapture by his mate, is
indifferent, consisting chiefly of one note repeated five or six
times in quick succession, followed by two others, the last of
which is drawn out to a considerable length. Yet one cannot
deny that this strain, repeated as it is, with but short
intermissions, for half an hour together from the same perch,
is in strict keeping with the languors of a summer’s day,
and, protracted to a season when nearly all other birds are
silent, it inspires the human listener with interest in the
performer.* No species continues its song so late in the year
or so indefatigably during the heat of a cloudless day, and
thus in the mind of nearly all lovers of the country the notes
of the Yellow Hammer are associated with calm, bright
weather, and wherever heard recal memories of sultry July
or August afternoons when hardly another sound breaks the
silence of the fields save the chirping of grasshoppers, and
the wayfarer gladly seeks the welcome shade of a solitary tree
or bush to screen him from the scorching glare of the sun.
sticon Zooicon, p. 80) and by Ray in 1674 (Coll. Engl. Words, &c., p. 88).
Perhaps the parent form was the old German Embritz, whence comes the Latinized
modification Emberiza, spelt by some ancient authors Embriza. Mr. Skeat,
in a communication kindly made on this point to the Editor, remarks that the
letter h is seldom wrongly prefixed, and cites among the few examples of the
practice “ hermit,” “ horde ” and “ humbles ”—the roots of which are probably
eremita, ordu and umbilicus respectively. Mr. J. W. Cartmell has added
to these words “ hogshead,” which ought to have been “ oxhead,” from the
Dutch ochshood, and “ howlet ” instead of “ owlet ”—the last being almost an
exact parallel to ‘ ‘ Hammer ’ ’ in the present bird’s name. Dr. Robert Latham’s
assertion (Diet. Engl. Lang. ii. p. 1432) that “ the derivation is the A.S.
Kama—skin, clothing, covering ” seems to be wholly unsupported by evidence.
* The character of the Yellow Hammer’s song has naturally led to its being
often syllabled, and in England one rendering of it, which has several local
variations, is “ Little bit o’ bread and no cheese.” In Scotland no such
humorous version is current, and there its interpretation, according to Mac-
gillivray, is “ Deil, deil, deil tak ye ” (i.e. , ye who would rob the nest). This
form of imprecation seems to be connected in the mind of North Britons with a
strange superstition that the Yellow Yoldring, as they most frequently call the
bird, is on very familiar terms with the Evil One, who is supposed on a May
morning to supply it among other odd dainties with half a drop of his own
blood, the effect of which is somehow to produce the curious markings on its
.eggs to be presently described.
Under such circumstances the Yellow Hammer’s drowsy
strain is far from inharmonious. But it is not only at this
period of the year that his song is heard. Towards the end
of January or early in February almost any gleam of sunshine
will awaken his vocal powers, and as he sits aloft to
catch its first or last rays his simple melody attracts the ear
until with advancing spring it is drowned in the full burst of
song.
The Yellow Bunting is generally a late breeder, seldom
laying its eggs till the middle of April, while they have been
found unhatched even in September (Zool. s.s. p. 1132). The
nest is most frequently placed upon or very near the ground,
sheltered by a bush, in a hedge-bottom or on the side of
a grass-grown bank ; and the moss, roots and hair of which
it is composed are usually well put together. Exceptions
to all these points however occasionally happen.
Mr. Blackwall, many years since, noticed (Zool. Journ. v.
p. 12) the fact, which came under his own observation, of
a hen-bird of this species laying her eggs on the bare
ground, in which situation she sat upon them till they
were hatched; and Salmon mentions (Nat. ii. p. 274) his
having found a nest, in 1884, at the extraordinary elevation
of seven feet from the ground, placed among the branches
of a broom-plant, which, though naked at the bottom, had a
close, thick head.
The eggs are of a pale purplish-white, streaked or veined
with very dark irregular lines of reddish-purple, almost
black, in addition to which there are often a few spots of the
same, which occasionally are greatly diffused over the whole
surface, and the eggs may then bo said to be clouded with
dull reddish-purple: some patches of lavender are also at
times present. The eggs measure from *96 to *74 by from
*68 to *58 in. The male is remarkable for his attentions to
his mate, and has been said to take his turn upon the
eggs during the period of incubation ; while Neville Wood
mentions having heard him sing when thus engaged. The
young are generally ready to leave the nest within a fortnight
after the time of being hatched ; but if often visited