192 



WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



REED-BUNTING. 



dence. The male 

 bird, however, 

 proved to be an 

 arrant coward. 

 Neither his con- 

 sort's growing 

 boldness nor his 

 sense of parental 

 duty would lead 

 him into what he 

 evidently consid- 

 ered the jeopard- 

 ising of his per- 

 sonal safety, and 

 he contented him- 

 self by sitting on 



some coign 



of 



vantage at a re- 

 spectful distance and plaintively reiterating three 

 notes, which sounded wonderfully like "Don't hit 

 mc ! Don't hit mc!" — a peculiar emphasis being 

 laid on the note represented by the second word. 

 This female reed bunting was the most ac- 

 complished little gymnast I ever saw. She could 

 place her body parallel to the upright dock 

 stem whilst grasping it with her feet, so widely 

 parted that no artist who had dared to commit 

 her grotesque attitude to canvas could have 

 hoped to escape the charge of exaggeration. 



