60 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



when a possible preference is displayed for marshy 

 ground, or at any rate for quite open country. 

 They are then somewhat nomadic, but pairs are 

 formed and the same nest-haunt is patronized 

 yearly early in the year, sometimes by mid- 

 February, commonly during March, always by 

 the birth of April. ' Girls " do not seem to care 

 much for rick-yards, where, during the inclemency 

 of autumn and winter, Yellowhammers, with other 

 stout-billed species, congregate galore in search of 

 grain. 



Neither is the haunt, nor even with that found 

 the nest of the Cirl Bunting always easy of dis- 

 covery. As to the first count, the bird, in addition 

 to its love of secreting itself in the thickly-foliaged 

 trees (it is far shyer than the Yellowhammer) with 

 the consequent chance of its escaping attention, so 

 far as actually seeing it goes is inclined to 

 spasmodic music. Thus, some males remember 

 their voice most early in the morning and again 

 towards evening : I have, for instance, sat for 

 hours on end close to a known nest, without seeing 

 or hearing the male once. This being so, it is 

 sometimes extremely easy to wander through a 

 ' Cirl" district without ever knowing it, or at 

 best to locate one pair in an area where all the time 

 there may be six or more. Some males, of course, 

 sing at intervals all day long. 



On the second count, while freely admitting 

 that the male often sings close to the nest, he 



