1 64 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



chosen, the nest is invariably well concealed. It i? 

 made of dry grasses and a little moss, and lined with 

 fibrous roots and horsehair ; and, what is rather remark- 

 able, will lie completed for several days ere the eggs 

 are deposited. The eggs are four or five in number, 

 purplish-white in ground colour, streaked, spotted, and 

 dashed with deep brown. In respect to British eggs, 

 the young naturalist can seldom, if ever, take the egg of 

 a Bunting for that of any other bird. It is only 

 amongst the Bunting family we find these streaky eggs, 

 appearing as they often do as though some one had 

 scribbled and streaked with a pen over their entire 

 surface. Many of the lines are fine as the finest hair, 

 while others are bolder, all being mixed up together in 

 endless confusion. With most, if not all birds, if the 

 first egg be taken from the nest, they will still continue 

 laying in the nest until the full number of eggs be laid. 

 This is the case with the Bunting. Nay, more ; you may 

 remove the nest itself, still the old bird forsakes not the 

 place, and continues laying egg after egg on the bare 

 ground until the usual number is deposited. But the mo- 

 ment that is done she abandons tfie place for ever, and 

 by no strange circumstance will she incubate them on the 

 ground. When you approach the Bunting's nest the 

 parent bird crouches low over her treasure, and silently 

 awaits the success of her protective designs. If compelled 

 to leave her home she does so in a silent manner, though 

 sometimes when a little distance away she will try to 

 gain your attention by various alluring motions. 



It is when the Bunting has a brood of hungry young 

 that the birds amply repay us for their inroads on the 

 corn-fields and seed-beds. Indeed, this will apply to all 

 the Finches, for there is not one amongst them that feeds 

 its young on seeds. Insects and their larvse form the 



