20 BRITISH BIRDS 



apt to be overlooked by the casual observer, or confounded 

 with one of the Larks or Pipits : it is dark brownish-grey 

 in colour, about the size of a Skylark, and the male and 

 female are alike. The nest is placed among grass but 

 not on the ground, and the eggs, four or five in number, 

 are greyish-white, spotted and streaked with black and 

 reddish-brown. It has no song to speak of, only a few 

 harsh notes. 



The Ortolan. 



Beloved of epicures, to gratify whose taste it is imported 

 in large numbers from the sunny south and fattened, the 

 Ortolan is a very rare visitor to our shores on its own 

 account. It is about the same size and shape as the Yellow- 

 hammer, and may be distinguished by the greenish shade 

 of its plumage, which presents none of the rich yellow 

 markino^s that distino^uish the latter. 



The Reed Bunting. 



This bird, also called Black-headed Bunting, is common 

 in the vicinity of water, arriving in April to breed and 

 taking its departure in September. It has a whitish-grey 

 breast, with a black head and chin, the rest of the plumage 

 being brown. The female has no black marks and is not 

 at all unlike a very clean hen Sparrow. The nest is 

 securely fixed among reeds overhanging the water, and 

 there the males sit and sing nearly all night long, while 

 the building of the nest and the process of incubation 

 are going on. The eggs, four to six in number, vary a 

 good deal in appearance in the same nest, and are greyish- 

 white with indistinct markings of a darker colour. 



The Snow Bunting. 



This bird is a winter visitor from the Arctic Circle, where 

 it breeds. It is brown and white in colour, rather pretty, 

 prefers a stone to a perch for sitting on, and rarely 

 survives one of our summers, the heat quickly upsetting 

 its liver and killing it. 



