THE REED® BUNTING 
EMBERIZA SCHENICLUS 
Loca names in surrounding counties: ‘‘ Reed Bunting,” 
‘“« Black-headed Bunting ” (Essex). 
Stratus 1n British Avirauna: A widely if somewhat 
locally distributed resident, subject to considerable in- 
ternal migration. 
RapiaL DisTrisUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Pauw’s: There are few if any quite suitable localities 
for the Reed Bunting within the most central portions of 
the Metropolitan area. It is a riverside species, but the 
banks of the waters must offer suitable cover and food to 
tempt it to sojourn upon them. Otherwise in the more 
rural districts the bird is by no means a scarce one, and 
I find it recorded from all or most of them. As the 
‘Thames begins to assume a country aspect we may expect 
to meet with the Reed Bunting, say, from Richmond on- 
wards. It also frequents the banks of the Mole, the 
Wandle, the Beverley, the Lea, and many other less 
important streams, besides the banks of canals, ponds, and 
even ditches and marshy places. During autumn and 
winter its aquatic tastes are nothing like so strongly 
developed, and then it roams about a good deal in com- 
pany with other seed-eating birds, frequenting hedges, 
stack-yards, and fields, especially stubble. It is possible 
that this Bunting may then approach the city within the 
four- or five-mile radius, but I have no records from any 
of the urban parks. It is a species of the outer suburbs, 
becoming commoner and more widely dispersed at all 
seasons as we get out into the comparatively open areas. 
The marked contrast in the black and white of its 
plumage, especially during flight, renders the Reed Bunt- 
ing one of the most conspicuous and easily identified 
of the smaller birds by the waterside. During spring 
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