244 WILD BIRDS 



down to a slip of turf by the river's edge and gather 

 together a mouthful of insect food. She took it 

 partly in the air by those little butterfly flights, of 

 her kind, and partly she picked it off the ground and 

 the weed platforms. I think she can hardly have 

 young yet, and must have been getting food for her 

 mate, who was taking a turn on the eggs. But it 

 was one or the other, for I saw her slender beak 

 bulging out with her dainties. 



The reed buntings have hardly begun to nest 

 or to lay so early. They are all day searching for 

 the water flies which the trout angler strives to 

 imitate. Several birds feed on " duns " or small 

 ephemeridae and the mayflies. The chaffinch often 

 comes down to the stream for these insects in spring 

 and summer, whilst the sand martins and swallows 

 and house martins and sometimes the swifts 

 seek this food from morn till eve. 



But the reed bunting, though it has none of the 

 speed on the wing or ease over the water of martins 

 and swallows and swifts, marks the " rise " or hatch 

 of the " duns " as closely as a trout marks it. 

 Perched on the debris of the stream, or watchful 

 among the willows and sedges, it will flutter out and 

 seize the little water flies as they sail downstream 

 and are swept close to the bank by the currents. 

 The " small fly " hatch, as anglers name it, is in 

 many rivers restricted to two or three hours in each 

 spring day nobody knows why and I notice the 

 reed buntings waiting for this hatch, as expectant 

 as the angler, who knows that when it comes on the 



