The GREY BUNTING (_Miliaria valida_) is one of the largest of its family, the length of the body being seven and a half inches, the breadth across the tail twelve and a quarter inches, the wing four inches, and the tail three inches. The female is not quite so large as her mate. The plumage of this species is extremely simple in its coloration; the body is a dark grey, the lower portion, as far as the breast, being marked with white or yellowish white, and the sides with brown. The exterior tail-feathers are of uniform grey, the iris dark brown, the beak greenish yellow, and the feet horn colour. The female is exactly like her mate. The young are darker than the old birds, and the spots upon the feathers larger. The Grey Bunting is not only distinguished by the simplicity of its plumage, but by its comparatively large, strong beak, furnished with a protuberance on its roof; its feet are weak and its wings short; it is likewise remarkable for the shortness of the claw upon the hinder toe. The Grey Buntings inhabit the greater part of Europe, either as permanent residents or as birds of passage, appearing in the largest numbers in the more southern portions of the continent: they are likewise met with both in Egypt and the Canary Isles. Fields and pastures are the localities they prefer, and they but rarely make their home in the neighbourhood of forests or in mountain districts. This bird has a clumsy and unwieldy appearance, as a glance at its stout, powerful body, combined with weak legs and short wings, will at once show; indeed, when upon the ground it looks eminently ungraceful, as it bends itself nearly double, flapping with its tail as it hops slowly from place to place. When in the air it flies with difficulty, the short, whirring strokes of its wings producing an undulating kind of motion. The song of this Bunting has nothing to recommend it, being in sound not unlike the noise produced by a stocking machine, from which fact this species is in many places known as the "Stocking Weaver." Still, however unpleasing to our ears this performance may be, the birds themselves are highly delighted with their own music, accompanying their notes by a variety of gesticulations, and thus appearing to give utterance to sentiments that their very limited gamut does not permit them otherwise to express.