By Rk'cr and Pool. 193 



and roar. Now and then such an unusual bird as a 

 Stormy Petrel or a Gull visits them; whilst during 

 migration time in spring and autumn the Ringed 

 Plover, the Dunlin, the Wigeon, the Teal, and the 

 Pochard are all known to alight occasionally near or 

 upon the dams and reservoirs of South Yorkshire. 

 Coots, Water Rails, and Spotted Crakes either fre- 

 quent some of them all the year round or visit them 

 from time to time. 



The bird-life along our canal banks if somewhat 

 sparse is by no means uninteresting. In rural dis- 

 tricts one of the most familiar species is the Reed- 

 bunting — not inaptly named by some observers a 

 "Riverside Bunting". We can recall how very 

 common this bird was along the water -side and 

 about the towing-paths of the canal just outside 

 Walton Park, once the famous seat of Charles 

 Waterton, the old-time Yorkshire naturalist. The 

 bird is by no means a shy or a timid one. It will 

 sit and await your approach, watching you with un- 

 easy flicks of its tail as it clings to some willow twig 

 or reed stem, then start off in dipping flight for a 

 little way to wait again. Finally, as likely as not, it 

 returns to its original haunt, flitting just above the 

 surface. The cock bird is readily identified by the 

 black head and throat, and white cheeks: in the hen 

 these parts are reddish-brown streaked with darker 

 brown. Its song is very similar to that of the better- 



( M 618 ) N 



