102 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



more sandy on the breast and flanks which are also narrowly streaked with brown, 

 belly and under tail-coverts washed with yellow. The young nearly resemble the 

 female. After the autumn moult the male has dull greyish-brown margins to the 

 feathers, and the rump somewhat tinged with yellow, so that it then more nearly 

 resembles the female. 



Seebohm thus speaks of the Black-headed Bunting : " In Greece and Asia 

 Minor, it does not arrive until the end of April, amongst the last half dozen 

 summer migrants. As soon as it comes nest building commences ; and during 

 the last half of May its eggs are so abundant in the olive and vine region of the 

 Parnassus, that when I was there I had not time to blow more than half of the 

 clutches which I found or saw. One reason may perhaps have been that the nest 

 of this bird was the easiest of all nests to find. The males were so extremely 

 handsome and so very conspicuous that whilst it may perhaps be scarcely correct 

 to say that no other species of bird was so common, certainly no other appeared 

 to be so." 



Further on, he says : " the plain joins a steep rocky slope, where the olives 

 are smaller and more scattered, and where clematis and white and pink roses half 

 conceal the stony ground, and dwarf oleanders, pomegranates, figs, almonds, and 

 other shrubs compose a half-wild landscape, the only sign of cultivation being a 

 vine-terrace here and there. This seems to be the paradise of the Black-headed 

 Bunting ; and it is not an uncommon thing to see three or four males perched 

 conspicuously on the top of as many isolated trees, singing in rivalry. When 

 disturbed it seldom flies far, but drops down from its perch, and after a short 

 flight, low and undulating, rises up again to the nearest tree-top, on which it is 

 so anxious to perch that its legs may be seen extended for the purpose long before 

 the desired haven is reached." 



The nest is usually placed amongst creepers, such as brambles or clematis ; but 

 often in rose-bushes ; sometimes in rows of peas or beans, and occasionally on the 

 ground. It is large and loosely constructed of the seed-bearing heads of small 

 flowering plants ; and is lined with dry grass, bents, rootlets, and hair. The eggs 

 number from four to six, usually four ; they are pale greenish-blue, with brown 

 surface spots and grey shell spots ; usually they are most densely massed at the 

 larger end, but sometimes they are scattered over the entire surface ; they also 

 vary in size, though as a rule both large and small spots occur on the same egg. 

 Jerdon says of this Bunting (Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 378): "It makes its 

 appearance in the Deccan usually about the end of November : is found in immense 

 flocks, and is very destructive to the crops of jowaree, and other grains. It leaves 

 early in March, and certainly does not breed in any part of India." Tristram 



