Day after day throughout the spring and early summer months the Yellow Bunting may be found, sitting on the topmost spray of a hedge and repeating with monotonous frequency his little song, which has often been rendered by the words, “A little bit of bread and no cheese.” It is neither long nor pretty, there is no music in it, and it is delivered without soul or fervour, yet in open and cultivated country, where the songs of the woodland birds are absent, it forms on a warm summer’s day, a fitting accompaniment to the more ambitious performance of the Lark. Decked out in bright yellow livery toned down and shaded with other dark markings, the Yellow Bunting receives too little recognition at our hands and is not appreciated at his true worth. Harmless, bright, and sociable in habits, he may be found throughout the year in the open fields and hedgerows, and except during the summer months, when insects form a large portion of his diet, he is essentially a seed-eater, destroying in countless numbers the seeds of the various weeds that have a hard struggle for life amongst the cultivated crops.

The nest is a neat structure of grass, roots, and moss woven together and is lined with horsehair. Five eggs form the usual clutch; they are whitish streaked and veined, after the manner characteristic of this family, with purplish red.

In autumn the young and old visit the standing crops in family parties, and they pass the winter seeking their food on the ground in stubbles and fallows or visiting the stack-yards for the fallen grain.

The male has the head, throat, and under parts bright yellow, spotted or streaked, except on the throat, with dark brown. Mantle yellowish brown with darker streaks. Rump reddish brown. Wings brown with broad deep rufous edgings to the secondaries and wing coverts. Tail feathers dark brown with white spots near the tip of the inner web of the two outer pairs. The female resembles the male, but it is very much duller and darker in colour. The young are pale brown all over, lighter on the under parts and more rufous on the back, each feather having a dark central stripe. Length 6·5 in.; wing 3·25 in.

YELLOW BUNTING (YELLOW HAMMER)
Emberiza citrinella
Male (below). Young (above)