50 The Oologists' Record, September i, 1922. 



interested me. As the bird volplanes down to some selected perch 

 with feet hanging down, the resemblance to aircraft with the landing 

 wheels below is quite ridiculous. 



I am unable to give any notes on the eggs, never having taken 

 any myself nor seen any that had been obtained by others. As 

 in the case of most Buntings, the parent birds, especially the cocks, 

 are very obliging in the way in which they will disclose the position 

 of their nests by their frequent visits, and a little patience in the 

 breeding areas soon meets with the desired reward. 



Emberiza melanocephala. Black-headed Bunting. 



This particularly handsome bird breeds freely in the coastal 

 plain, the birds arriving at the end of April and commencing breeding 

 operations early in May. The brambles round the edges of the 

 marshes are the most favoured nesting sites, but isolated bushes or 

 groups of bushes are preferred, and the nests are never placed in 

 very thick cover. I met with httle success in obtaining the eggs of 

 this species, not having much time to spare for bird-nesting — in 

 fact I only secured a single clutch, and that was not a full one. 

 In the Ramleh-Ludd-Bir Salem area I found no nests in the orange 

 groves which I constantly searched, but during the months of July 

 and August in 1918 I came across several old nests in the orange 

 groves near the R. Auja in the Jaffa area. The principal breeding 

 areas of this Bunting were the scrub lands in the vicinity of the 

 marshes of the Wady Rubin, Jaffa Auja, and R. Kishon in the Plain 

 of Esdraelon, though they undoubtedly bred in suitable locaHties 

 by any of the small estuaries opening into the Mediterranean. The 

 nests found in the orange groves were very curious, insomuch that 

 they were composed of the flowering stems of a tiny yellow clover 

 or trefoil, which gave the nests a very gay appearance. Those 

 found in the brambles were constructed of dry and dead grasses, 

 and as so often is noticeable in those of the Yellow Hammer, fre- 

 quently had a stragghng pathway of grasses leading into the nest, 

 which serves nicely to reveal its position. They are well lined with 

 horsehair. 



Nests are rarely placed more than 2 or 3 feet above the ground, 

 and I found many when it was too late, after the rank herbage had 

 died down. They are usually fairly well concealed, but the cock 

 birds are always ready to give away the positions by visiting them 

 at frequent intervals, and his colouring and his flight are quite 



