THE BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. 1G1 



return in pairs to their summer haunts. They build on or near the 

 ground among coarse grass or rushes, or in the lower part of a thorn 

 or other bush. The nest is composed of stems and stalks of grasses, 

 fragments of rushes, and other similar materials, and neatly lined with 

 finer grass, hair, and the down of the reed. The eggs, which are 

 deposited about the first week in May, are of a yellowish or greenish 

 grey colour, delicately marked and spotted with a darker shade of the 

 same; the larger end is frequently covered with fine angular and 

 curved lines. The parent birds display a strong solicitude for their 

 young, and will use many artifices to attract an intruder from the 

 vicinity of the nest. In tho " Magazine of Natural History," Mr. 

 Salmon, of Thetford, thus writes: "Walking last spring among some 

 rushes near a river, my attention was arrested by observing a Black- 

 headed Bunting shuffling through the rushes, and trailing along the 

 ground, as if one of her legs or wings were broken. I followed her 

 to see the result, and she, having led me to a considerable distance, 

 took wing, no doubt mrch rejoiced on return to find her stratagems 

 had been successful in preserving her young brood, although not in 

 preventing the discovery of the nest, which I found was placed, as 

 usual, on the side of a hassock or clump of grass, and almost screened 

 from view by overhanging dead grass/' 



The song of this bird is rather harsh and shrill, and consists merely 

 of two or three short notes, succeeded by a long one; Meyer likens 

 it to the word 'sherrip' pronounced quickly. It may be heard at all 

 seasons, and is uttered from the top of a reed or low bush. 



The male of this species is really a handsome bird. The head and 

 throat are rich velvet black; a line from the beak down the sides of 

 the neck, and a broad band over the back of the neck are white. 

 The feathers of the back, wings, and tail are blackish bordered with 

 chesnut. The breast and under surface of the body are greyish white. 

 The irides are hazel; the legs, toes, and claws, dusky brown. The 

 male is about six inches and a quarter in length, and the female a 

 little shorter. The plumage of the latter is of a redder tint, and the 

 band over the neck is yellowish grey. The young resemble the female. 



