204 CAREFUL CONCEALMENT. 



summit of a willow stem, and his mate running beneath, or only 

 occasionally coming within view. On our entering the osiers they 

 both flew around us in great alarm, mostly in silence, but sometimes 

 uttering a low mournful kind of note, at the same time darting 

 suddenly about the hedge and willow stems, as if impatient for our 

 immediate departure; and their manners were so different from 

 those commonly observed in the species, that we were convinced 

 that there must be a nest thereabouts. I was well aware of the 

 difficulty of finding the little tenement in a situation of that kind, 

 and accordingly we both of us began to move in different directions, 

 in order to discover by the actions of the birds where their treasure 

 lay. My friend traversed one side of the osier bed, and myself the 

 other ; but still the loving and faithful couple remained in precisely 

 the same spot, where the junctions of two hedges formed a corner; 

 and we therefore concluded, naturally enough, that on that spot all 

 their hopes were centered. But a close and minute investigation of 

 the whole corner, during which we laid the ground completely bare, 

 revealed nothing to us. At length, a full hour after the commence- 

 ment of our labours, I hit upon the nest by mere chance, at exactly 

 the opposite end to that at which the Eeed Buntings had been, and 

 still were, prosecuting their whinings and manoeuvres, which now 

 proved beyond a doubt, what I had never before suspected, that the 

 birds had been all the time endeavouring to attract our attention 

 towards them instead of towards the nest. 



The eggs of this bird are four or five in number, of a 

 pale purple brown colour, streaked with deeper tints of the 

 same. The nest is placed among aquatic plants, or in a 

 tuft of grass or reeds, sometimes fastened to the stems, but 

 as frequently deposited on the ground. It is composed of 

 dry stalks and blades of grasses, bits of rushes, and other 

 similar materials, and is neatly lined with finer grasses and 

 hair. Some authors have described the nest as composed 

 of grass, lined with the soft down of the reed, and suspended 

 between four reed stalks; but the nest so described must 

 have been that of the Eeed Warbler, with which that of this 

 species does not agree either in materials or situation. 

 Again, the Bunting has been said to utter a soft, melodious 

 warbling song, frequently heard in the night ; this account 

 exactly suits the Warbler, but not the Bunting, whose note 

 is harsh and unmelodious. 



THE ORTOLAN BmTr$G(EmberizaHortulana). This bird 

 has a greenish grey head and neck, covered with dusky 



