126 REED BUNTING. 



In the winter the Reed Bunting feeds upon grain 

 and seeds of various kinds, and in the summer chiefly 

 upon insects. Its song, hke that of the other Bunt- 

 ings, is uninteresting and monotonous. 



The birds pair rather early, and the nest is com- 

 menced about the middle of April. It is nearly always 

 placed close to the water (though a few instances are 

 recorded of the nest being found right away from any), 

 and is generally placed on the ground, well concealed 

 by a tuft of grass, or a clump of rushes. One nest, 

 which I only discovered by nearly walking over the 

 sitting bird, was so completely hidden that, although 

 I knew the exact spot from which the bird rose, I 

 could find no trace of it until I had torn away the 

 thick surrounding rank tuft of grass. Another nest 

 I found built in the rushes themselves, and some 

 distance from the ground ; but this position is not a 

 common one, and when adopted, the nest is never 

 suspended like the nest of the Reed Warbler, but 

 always supported. It is composed of dry grass, moss, 

 and the leaves of rushes, and lined with fine grass, a 

 little moss and hair. The materials, however, vary 

 considerably, sometimes reed and grass stems alone 

 being used. 



The eggs, four to six in number, are of a reddish- 

 brown or greyish-brown colour, spotted, streaked and 

 blotched with dark brown of a rich purple shade, some 

 of the spots being bold and large, though toned down 

 at the edges. These eggs bear a certain resemblance 

 in their markings to the eggs of the Chaffinch, but 

 they are of a darker and browner tint. 



