REED BUNTING 



BLACK-HEADED BUNTING REED SPARROW CHINK BLACK 



BONNET. 



PLATE LXXVII. 

 Emberiza scfazniclus, ..... LINNAEUS. 



THE nest is commonly placed on the ground, among 

 coarse grass, weeds, sedge, or rushes, on a bank near 

 the edge of the water which the bird frequents, and occa- 

 sionally in the lower part of some low bush or stump, a 

 few inches above the ground ; sometimes it is said to have 

 been met with in a furze or gorse bush, at a considerable 

 distance from water; and Mr. Hewitson relates that he 

 has, though rarely, found it at an elevation of two feet or 

 more above the water, and supported on a mass of fallen 

 reeds. Mr. J. Barstow, of Garrow Hill, near York, found 

 one in July, in a hedge about a yard from the ground, 

 some way from any pond : it contained four eggs. It is 

 composed of grasses and fragments of rushes, lined with 

 the feathery tops of the reed, a little moss, or finer grass, 

 or hair. 



The eggs are four to six in number, are purple -grey 

 colour, streaked and strongly spotted in a pleasing manner 

 with a darker shade of purple-brown ; sometimes the end 

 is delicately marked with a texture of fine lines. They 



