The breeding season commences in April. The nest is generally placed in the grass or amongst a group of plants, and is built of straw and dry leaves, lined with hair and other elastic materials. The eggs, from four to six in number, have a delicate pale grey or dirty yellowish shell, marked with dull purple spots, veins, and lines that are very close together at the broad end. The young are fed upon insects, and are fully fledged by May, when the parent birds at once proceed to undertake the care of a second family, only joining the rest of the flock when the work of incubation is completed. The flesh of the Grey Bunting is considered excellent; it is therefore much sought after by man, whose example is followed by falcons, rats, foxes, and other animals. THE GOLDEN BUNTING. The GOLDEN BUNTING, or YELLOW BUNTING (_Emberiza citrinella_), is to be met with in the same parts of our continent as afford a home to the species last described, from which it is distinguished by the beauty of its plumage, and the comparative slenderness of its beak. The Yellow Bunting is about six and a half inches long, and from ten to ten and a half inches in breadth; the wing measures three and a quarter inches, and the tail two and three-quarter inches; the plumage of the male is admired for its markings and the brightness of its tints; the head and lower portion of the neck are of a bright lemon yellow, and the breast and belly streaked with reddish brown; the sides of the breast, rump, and mantle are of a vivid rust colour, the latter being streaked with dark brown; the throat is tinted with a mixture of olive green and reddish yellow, and the wings and tail are bordered by two lines, formed by the yellowish tips of the feathers; the iris is brown, the beak blueish, and the feet of a deep flesh colour. The female is by no means so handsome as her mate.