4o6 EXGLISH BIRD LIFE 



brownish hue, with a jet-black head and breast 

 relieved by a collar of pure white. It is generally 

 known as the Black-headed Bunting, a name 

 obviously appropriate, and is so described in the 

 earlier editions of Yarrell. But it would appear that 

 this title had already been bestowed upon a much 

 rarer member of the Bunting group, a bird, indeed, 

 which is hardly known in Great Britain. Thus 

 our familiar black-headed form has been re- 

 christened the Reed Bunting, a name suitable 

 enough, but by no means so clearly descriptive. 



The Reed Bunting is resident throughout the 

 year, and in the depth of winter may still be seen 

 flitting about the frozen margin of the lake. In 

 spring the cock ascends to the topmost spray of 

 the reeds or willows to utter his somewhat monoton- 

 ous song, the prolonged notes bearing some 

 resemblance to those of the Yellow-hammer. 



The nest is built in the tangled herbage at the 

 base of the bushes, and is formed of dry grass lined 

 with hair or with the feathery plumes of the reeds. 

 The four or five eggs are of a pale brownish hue 

 streaked irregularly with black. 



At one time the Bearded Titmouse — the interest- 

 ing little Reed Pheasant — is said to have haunted 

 the lake, but the silvery notes are now never heard. 

 Indeed, the sight of a party of these delicate little 

 creatures with their tawny and white wings and black 

 moustaches, climbing and hanging about the sway- 

 ing reeds, is now^ rarely to be gained in England, 

 except in the more remote parts of the Norfolk 



