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coloured of our smaller birds. The cock yellowhammer renders himself the more distinguished by singing from an exposed perch on a hedge or bush. He sings a familiar song generally rendering as “A little bread but no cheese”. It is widely distributed in Britain and Ireland on farmland and open country. In winter it is easy to see them forming flocks with Swallows,Chaffinches and Greenfinches. Its nest is usually near the ground below a hedge or bush and the eggs are covered in fine scrawly lines. The male yellowhammer can be really smart with a yellow head and underparts streaked with chestnut, a chestnut back streaked with black and a very rich chestnut rump. Young birds and grotty females are best told from other buntings by the warm redish brown spread on their rumps. Yellowhammers are still common in Britain and Ireland with well over 1,000,000 territories. The yellowhammer has a stubby bill which shows it eats seeds. Another name for the yellowhammer is Emberiza Citrinella. Story by Evelyn Kelly.
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