(The). The eggs of this bird are spotted with red. The tradition
is that the bird fluttered about the Cross, and got stained with
the blood in its plumage, and by way of punishment its eggs were
doomed ever after to bear marks of blood. 'Tis a very lame
story, but helps to show how in former times every possible
thing was made to bear some allusion to the Redeemer. Because
the bird was “cursed,” boys who abstain from plundering the eggs
of small birds, were taught that it is as right and proper to
destroy the eggs of the bunting as to persecute a Jew. (See
Christian Traditions.) Hammer is a corruption of the German
ammer, a bunting. Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E.
Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Yellowhammer from Fact Monster: