  One cannot well mistake this species, as he sits on the telegraph wires bordering the road, uttering times without number the long drawn-out “dzree-e-e” that serves him for a song. In appearance he much resembles the Skylark, but, unlike that species, which is always so alert and ever on the move, the Corn Bunting spends most of his day sitting in an exposed situation on a hedge or on some tall plant in the open field. The nest is a fairly neat structure of grass, roots, and moss, with a lining of horsehair, and is usually placed on the ground in the middle of a field, and often at no great distance from a bush or some other post of vantage on which, as noted above, he spends the greater part of the day. The eggs are extremely handsome, being of a creamy white boldly blotched and scrolled with very dark brown. Insects and seeds are equally consumed, and both being abundant on the cultivated land, in which he delights, he earns an easy living with the minimum of exertion. During the winter months he loves company and consorts with the Larks and Finches, generally roosting on the ground with the former. The sexes are alike and have the upper parts pale brown streaked with a darker shade of the same colour. Throat whitish margined with brown spots; rest of the under parts buffish white spotted on the breast and flanks with brown. Length 7 in.; wing 3·6 in. The young are rather darker and have the wing coverts broadly margined with fulvous. It is by no means so abundant as the next species but is widely distributed in open, wild, or cultivated country. |
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