SECOND SERIES. 



Some Notes on the Birds 



OK WHICH 



PHOTOGRAPHS APPEAR IN 

 THE FOREGOING PAGES . . 



BT 



GEORGE GIRDWOOD 



Blackbird This sable-coated songster with its yellow bill is 

 familiar to everyone. The species is resident with us all year, is 

 widely-distributed, and is to be observed commonly in all wooded 

 neighbourhoods. Though guilty of taking a toll from the ripened 

 fruit of the currant bushes, he amply repays this by services to the 

 gardener, and by the delight of his mellow, flute-like song heard 

 from early spring late into summer. The nest is placed in a hedge 

 or shrub, about five feet from the ground, and contains four or 

 five eggs of a pale green ground-colour, thickly covered with brown 

 spots. 



Bunting, Reed- This bird is frequently alluded to as the 

 Black-headed Bunting, but this is a misnomer, as the Black-headed 

 Bunting is a bird inhabiting Southern and Eastern Europe, 

 which has been recorded in Britain only three times. The Reed- 

 Bunting on the other hand is a resident in Britain, frequenting 

 marshy localities, and lake or river side, where the male bird in 

 summer with his rufous coloured back and jet-black head and throat, 

 may oft be noticed perched on the top of some low bush, uttering his 

 low twittering song. This bird is about six inches in length, and is 

 not unlike a sparrow with a black head, with a narrow collar of 

 white dividing the head from the reddish brown colour of the 

 shoulders and back. IB winter the Reed-Bunting may be found in 

 small flocks, associated with chaffinches and other small birds in the 

 stubble fields. It is largely a seed eater, though in the summer 

 months and especially when feeding its young, it is like so many 

 other of the smaller birds, almost entirely insectivorous. The nest 

 is usually carefully concealed, and is oft-times placed among rushes, 

 in clumps where the stems have been broken down and lie horizontal, 

 sometimes in whin bushes, but always in the vicinity of water. The 

 eggs, from four to six in number, are stone colour, spotted and 

 broadly scrolled after the manner of those of the Yellowhammer, but 

 with thicker lines, of very dark purple, almost black. 



Buzzard The Buzzard occupies a place in nature between the 

 hawk and the owl. It is somewhat heavy both in appearance and 

 habit, though when in flight its long wings upbear it with great 

 ease, as it circles round and round in graceful curves watching for 

 its prey. Its food consists of young rabbits, field mice and frogs, 



