-REED-BUNTING. 137 
chee. The Reed-Bunting commences to sing in the beginning of April 
and continues until late into the summer. It is a very lively bird, more 
so than the Yellow Hammer, and is almost as tame. Its flight is undu- 
lating, like that of all the Buntings, and it also possesses the habit of 
abruptly alighting, spreading out its tail, and, should it be about to perch 
on a reed, often fluttering its wings until firmly seated. As you wander 
along the banks of the water the birds will flit from stem to stem or bush 
to bush before you for a considerable distance, and then return to their 
old haunt by crossing the water. It is very fond of clinging to an upright 
stem or reed. 
The Reed-Bunting pairs rather early in the year, and begins nest- 
building late in April or early in May. The nest is rarely built at 
any height above the ground, although Jardine states that he has very 
frequently found it, in plantations bordering some marshy spot, ona young 
spruce-fir as much as from one to three yards above the ground; and 
in the valley of the Petchora I found a nest of this bird built inside an old 
Fieldfare’s nest in an alder-swamp nine feet from the surface of the water. 
The usual site is upon the ground beneath the shelter of a tuft, in a clump 
of rushes, or on a bank amongst rank vegetation. I have found it between 
the slender stems of young willows close to the ground, and it is usually 
well concealed by surrounding grass, rushes, or moss. Hewitson says that 
he has, although rarely, seen the nest at an elevation of two feet or more 
above the water and supported by a bunch of the common reed. This 
bird, however, never suspends its nest from the reeds, as some of the older 
writers imagined was the case. The nest is made of various materials: 
im some districts dry grass, moss, and withered leaves of rushes form 
the outside, and fine grass and hairs finish off the interior; whilst in 
more swampy places it is almost exclusively made of dry bents and 
reed-stems, the feathery tops of which form the lining. The eggs are 
from four to six in number, sometimes only three. They vary in 
ground-colour from greyish olive to purplish buff, spotted, streaked, and 
blotched with rich purplish brown, almost black. Many of the streaks are 
underlying and pale violet-grey in colour, and most of the surface-spots 
are more or less blurred at the edges. The streaks are much thicker and 
much less tortuous than those on the eggs of the Yellow Hammer, nor 
are they so long, as a rule, or so numerous; they are very bold, some of 
the spots being as large and round as No. 4 shot, and they are generally 
distributed over the entire surface of the egg. They are not subject to any 
considerable amount of variation, and are not easily confused with those of 
any other British species. They vary in length from 85 to ‘68 inch, and in 
breadth from *6 to ‘54inch. The Reed-Bunting rears, in many cases, two 
broods in the season. The male bird, while the female is upon her nest, 
takes up his perch close at hand and there incessantly warbles his simple 
