CIEL BUNTINGS IN SUSSEX 61 



equally often has from your point of view an 

 irritating habit of ' ' trilling ' at some distance 

 from it. Consequently, you may fritter away 

 hours looking for a nest which never was ; you 

 may search, in fact, until the wretch suddenly 

 elects to take himself off a hundred yards or more. 

 There he recommences singing ; and then the 

 hunt starts afresh, this time perchance with better 

 luck. 



There is a certain amount of variety about the 

 situation selected by the Cirl Bunting for its home, 

 which is practically always somewhat off the 

 ground, generally from a few inches to two feet, 

 though sometimes up to five or even six, above it. 

 The favourite site, however, in Sussex at any rate, 

 is an ordinary quickset, roadside hedge, while the 

 lower and scrubbier it is, the better the builders 

 seem pleased. A bramble, however, is not a very 

 uncommon position, either one in a hedge or in 

 a * ' shaw ' which signifies a longish and narrow 

 planting of trees and bushes, sometimes engirt by 

 hedges ; I have also found the nest in elm hedges, 

 or in the centre of one of those bushy bunches of 

 self-sown elm-" suckers " which are so prevalent 

 round the base of the parent tree. Again the nest 

 is in a small conifer or shrub in some " nursery ' 

 or enclosure, especially when such an one borders 

 a road ; while I have seen several examples in a 

 small embrasure in the side of a haystack, notably 

 one on May 27th, 1911, near Brighton, and 



