136 IN PAIRING TIME 



Of the smaller birds that leave us for the winter, 

 the Reed-bunting is often the last to go and the first 

 to return. He is also one of the most domesticated, 

 not to say uxorious birds I know. Reed-buntings 

 move about, often in pairs, up to the end of October, 

 and are back again, often in pairs and in full plumage, 

 by the end of January. They appear to purchase a 

 maximum of married life by a minimum of courtship. 

 They arrive, as it would seem, with their minds 

 already made up, feed together in the grass by the 

 riverside, perch together on the hedgetop, and flit 

 together along the reed and willow-grown ditches, 

 although about three months must pass ere they be 

 called upon to build. Nothing strikes an observer 

 of the courtship of birds as more curious than this 

 early consorting together in pairs of birds that are, 

 as a rule, late nesters. In deficiency of courting 

 antics the Reed-bunting is, I think, surpassed only 

 by the Corn-bunting, and the latter has none at all. 

 He may perch beside his mate, uttering occasionally 

 his long, thin "Tsi-u" or his stuttering " Trit-trit- 

 trit-trititi" and with his glossy black cap, white 

 collar, and richly striped coat, he is certainly a fine 

 fellow to look at. So that the lady, probably without 

 any ambition to become a mother of heroes, may be 

 well enough served. Her mate, however, has the 

 virtues of his defects, and in due season will labour 

 like any rook in bringing material for the construction 

 of the nest. 



The courtship of the Corn-bunting comes nigh 

 being a contradiction in terms. There are no chasings, 

 no antics, nothing but the strange, persistent song 

 if song it may be called uttered by the hour as the 



