before they are able to fly, their fears induce them to quit
their discovered retreat a few days sooner. They are fed
mainly if not entirely on insects, which in summer seem to
form the chief sustenance of the adults *; but as autumn
approaches they do great service to the agriculturist by
consuming the seeds of many noxious weeds, those of
the vai’ious species of Arenaria, Stellaria and Polygonum in
particular. In winter this species is gregarious, flocking with
Chaffinches, Greenfinches and other birds, to stack-yards,
and at that season it will readily feed on grain, though
smaller seeds, which slovenly husbandmen have so often to
carry home with the corn, are nearly always the object of
its especial search. Sometimes the Yellow Hammer, like
the Bunting, will pass the night on the ground; but in very
cold weather the shelter of thick bushes and evergreen shrubs
forms its favourite resort at roosting time. In Italy great
numbers of this species are caught, with Ortolans, and
fattened for the purpose of the table.
Of the countries inhabited by the Yellow Bunting, it may
be sufficient to say that it is a common resident throughout
most parts of Great Britain, in the eastern counties regularly
receiving an addition to its numbers towards winter, and is
even found in the Outer Hebrides. It has been known to
breed in Orkney, though not in Shetland, but in the latter it
is often seen, and in both groups of islands it most frequently
appears in winter. In Ireland it is common in
suitable localities, and, according to Thompson, is resident.
It is.hitherto unrecorded from the Faeroes or Iceland, but in
continental Scandinavia it occurs, and is by no means rare,
so far to the northward as the Alten valley, and it has been
seen with its young, by Pastor Sommerfelt, on the Tana.
But in these high latitudes it would appear to be chiefly an
autumn-visitor, and though its nest has several times been
found in the Muonioniska district, Wolley was satisfied that
* On one occasion the Editor observed an old bird of this species busily
engaged with a large Sphinx which was more than it could master, and on his
approach it left its prey mangled in the road; but generally insects of a more
manageable size are undoubtedly preferred.
the majority of examples observed and obtained by him
came from the eastward towards the end of summer. At
that season it is very common in the interior of Finland,
and it even winters, according to Dr. Malmgren, at Kajana,
It is found abundantly near Archangel, and is more generally
distributed than any of its congeners on the islands and
coasts of the ^Yhite Sea. About Lake Ladoga also it is
resident. In Western Siberia it would seem to be common,
though to a great extent migratory, yet Prof. Kadde found
that it came to the Jenesei in winter, and especially observed
it near Krasnoiarsk, in November. Prof. Brandt names it as
occurring in the Eastern Altai. According to Dr. Severzov
it appears, but rarely, on the river Daria in Turkestan in
winter. De Filippi did not meet with it in Persia. it is
included among the birds of the Caucasus, and Messrs.
Dickson and Boss procured it at Erzeroom in spring. At
Constantinople it is said to be very numerous in winter, but
it is not recorded from Greece, Palestine or Egypt. It is
found throughout Italy, but it seems to breed only in the
northern uplands and is scarce in the south as well as in
Sicily and Sardinia. It does not even breed in the south of
France, and though said by Loche to do so in Algeria no
example seems to have occurred to any other ornithologist
in that country. Col. Irby says that he has neither seen nor
heard of it on either shore of the Straits of Gibraltar, but
according to MM. Webb and Berthelot it inhabits Tene-
riffe: Mr. Godman however did not meet with it on any of
the Atlantic Islands. Its appearance in Portugal has not
yet been substantiated, and in Spain its distribution seems
to be limited, while in the southern parts of that country it
is said to be only an occasional winter-visitor. Within the
boundaries thus vaguely drawn, however, it is almost everywhere
a common and, from its bright plumage and confident
habits, a well-known bird, as testified by the very large
number of local names which it enjoys throughout Europe.
The adult male in summer has the upper mandible (which
bears a well-developed palatal knob) brown, the lower mandible
of a bluish horn-colour: the irides dark brown: the head,