CIRL BUNTINGS IN SUSSEX 59 



to a number of even very competent ornithologists, 

 but also because it is often by the song, and song 

 alone, that even the expert first becomes aware that 

 these birds are inhabitants of a district in spring 

 and summer. 



With the cock temporarily not in voice and 

 when the hen is not incubating, you may often 

 chance on the pair feeding together, very frequently 

 in some field not far from a road-hedge, and 

 sometimes quite a good way from their nest-haunt. 

 Even now the birds are reluctant about being 

 approached too nearly : if you attempt it, they are 

 prone to recompense you by flying off altogether, 

 perhaps clean out of sight, or else they may seek 

 immediate seclusion in any adjacent tree. Excep- 

 tionally, however, you shall obtain, and linger 

 delightfully over, a good view of one perched all 

 unconscious of your presence on a hedge-top, fence, 

 or log of fallen timber. If disturbed now, the shy 

 creature makes off with dipping flight straight along 

 the hedgerow for some distance, and generally, too, 

 on the far side of it, especially should you have 

 claimed the road, before seeking cover. Often when 

 a " Cirl " takes refuge in a bush it drops to the 

 ground suddenly, before settling on a spray at all, 

 not usually, however, in the tangled interior of its 

 retreat, but on any available open space between 

 two distinct growths. 



In autumn and winter Cirl Buntings form into 

 flocks of from, roughly speaking, six to sixty, 



