440 EMBEKIZID.E, 



spring amongst some ruslies growing near a river, my atten- 

 tion was arrested by observing a Black-headed Bunting 

 shuffling through the rushes, and trailing along the ground, as 

 if one of her legs or wings were broken. I followed her to 

 see the result ; and she, having led me to some considerable 

 distance, took wing, no doubt much rejoiced on return to 

 find her stratageiiis had been successful in preserving her 

 young brood ; although not in preventing the discovery of 

 her nest, containing five young ones, which I found was 

 placed, as usual, on the side of a hassock, or clump of grass, 

 and almost screened from view by overhanging dead grass. 

 I have invariably found it in such a situation, and never sus- 

 pended between reeds, as is sometimes stated : it was com- 

 posed of dead grass, and lined sparingly with hair." 



Mr. Neville Wood, in his British Song Birds, relates an 

 occurrence with the Black-headed Bunting which indicates a 

 still higher grade of intellectual character. It is thus de- 

 scribed : — " Some years ago, when walking with a friend, I 

 remember seeing two of these birds in an osier bed, the male 

 perched erect at the summit of a willow stem, and his mate 

 remaining beneath, or only occasionally coming within view. 

 On our entering the osiers, they both flew around us in great 

 alarm, mostly in silence, but sometimes uttering a low mourn- 

 ful kind of note, at the same time darting suddenly about 

 the hedge and willow stems, as if impatient for our imme- 

 diate departure ; and their manners were so different from 

 those commonly observed in the species, that we were con- 

 vinced that there must be a nest thereabouts. I was well 

 aware of the difficulty of finding its little tenement in a situ- 

 ation of that kind, and accordingly we both of us began to move 

 in different directions, in order to discover by the actions of 

 the birds where their treasure lay. My friend traversed one 

 side of the osier bed, and myself the other ; but still the 

 loving and faithful couj)le remained in precisely the same 



