The Reed-Bunting 129 



objects less conspicuous to the uninterested onlooker, and, therefore, may be iu a 

 measure protective, is probable ; but that it exists with any definite intention, is 

 no more than a guess. 



Lord Lilford's view as to the site usually selected for the nest of the Reed 

 Bunting coincides with my own limited experience, for he says : — " All the nests 

 which we have met with were situated on the ground, or the crust formed by 

 the roots of the common reed." Hewitson, however, in the third edition of his 

 " Eggs of British Birds," observes : — I have, though rarely, found them at an 

 elevation of two feet or more above the water, and supported by a branch of the 

 common reed, not fixed like the nest of the Reed- Warbler, attached to the pcipcii- 

 diciday stciiis, but supported upon a bunch of them which had been prostrated 

 by the wind." Sometimes the nest is placed in young spruce firs, and it is 

 often found iu herbage on a bank. 



The materials of the nest seem to vary considerably ; all mine are formed 

 of fine dead grasses and a few bents, or coarser bents with a blade or two of 

 broad-grass ; and are lined with very fine grass and horsehairs, or fine grass 

 alone. Stevenson's nests seem to have been formed of fine bents and lined with 

 the feathery tops of reeds. Lord Lilford's were composed of moss and sedge, 

 with a lining of reed tops, and sometimes a little hair. Seebohm mentions 

 withered leaves of rushes as one of the materials employed, and Howard Saunders 

 speaks of withered flags. The eggs number from four to six, and are of various 

 stone tints var^dng between pale brownish-lavender and olivaceous-buff; blotched, 

 spotted, speckled, and often more or less boldly streaked with purplish-black, the 

 ixnderlying spots appearing a lavender-grey : they have the opaque appearance 

 characteristic of eggs of the Chaffinch, but more nearly resemble one variety of 

 those of the Tree Pipit. 



The nesting-season usually commences late in April or early in May, though 

 Lord Lilford mentions having taken a full nest as early as March 23rd, and as 

 from two to three broods are reared, nidification must continue until at least the 

 end of July, if not to the middle of August. It has been stated that the male 

 takes part in incubating the eggs, but I have not had sufficient experience of 

 this species to be able to dogmatise on the point. As a rule it is engaged in 

 singing its poor song, while the hen sits near by ; and when the nest is dis- 

 covered both birds try to divert the attention of the intruder by tumbling about, 

 as if wounded upon the earth. The song consists of a few monotonous notes 

 cheo, chco, cheo, chcc, chce, chcc, chee, and terminates with a harsh zshivec ; the call- 

 note is said to be tsclicc, and Mr. Witchell states that he has heard another note, 

 resembling the battle-cr}^ of the Chaffinch. 



Vl.L. II. 1*3 



