512 EMBERIZID^. 



species, that we were convinced that there must be a nest 

 thereabouts. I was well aware of the difficulty of finding 

 its little tenement in a situation of that kind, and accord- 

 ingly we both of us began to move in different direc- 

 tions, 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 junction of two hedge-rows formed a corner; 

 and we therefore concluded, naturally enough, that in that 

 spot all their hopes were centred. But a close and mi- 

 nute investigation of the whole corner, during which time 

 we laid the ground completely bare, revealed nothing to 

 us. At length, a full hour after the commencement of 

 our labours, I hit upon the nest by mere chance, at ex- 

 actly the opposite end to that at which the Reed Buntings 

 had been, and still were, prosecuting their winnings 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 their nest." 



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

 pale purple brown colour, streaked with darker purple 

 brown ; the length nine lines and a half, and seven lines in 

 breadth. Incubation commences, Mr. Jenyns says, about 

 the first week in May, and occasionally a second brood is 

 produced in July. The food of the Black-headed Bunt- 

 ing is grain, seeds, insects, and their larvae; the young 

 are probably fed for a time on the latter. In winter these 

 birds associate with others, forming flocks, and visiting 

 gardens, barn doors, and stack-yards in search of seeds, 

 or grain of any kind. 



The Black-headed Bunting occurs in the localities suited 

 to its habits in all the southern counties of England ; it 



