THE REED BUNTING 



EMBERIZA SCHCENICLUS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : " Reed Bunting," 

 " Black-headed Bunting " (Essex). 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A widely if somewhat 

 locally distributed resident, subject to considerable in- 

 ternal migration. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : There are few if any quite suitable localities 

 for the Reed Bunting within the most central portions of 

 the Metropolitan area. It is a riverside species, but the 

 banks of the waters must offer suitable cover and food to 

 tempt it to sojourn upon them. Otherwise in the more 

 rural districts the bird is by no means a scarce one, and 

 I find it recorded from all or most of them. As the 

 Thames begins to assume a country aspect we may expect 

 to meet with the Reed Bunting, say, from Richmond on- 

 wards. It also frequents the banks of the Mole, the 

 Wandle, the Beverley, the Lea, and many other less 

 important streams, besides the banks of canals, ponds, and 

 even ditches and marshy places. During autumn and 

 winter its aquatic tastes are nothing like so strongly 

 developed, and then it roams about a good deal in com- 

 pany with other seed-eating birds, frequenting hedges, 

 stack-yards, and fields, especially stubble. It is possible 

 that this Bunting may then approach the city within the 

 four- or five-mile radius, but I have no records from any 

 of the urban parks. It is a species of the outer suburbs, 

 becoming commoner and more widely dispersed at all 

 seasons as we get out into the comparatively open areas. 



The marked contrast in the black and white of its 

 plumage, especially during flight, renders the Reed Bunt- 

 ing one of the most conspicuous and easily identified 

 of the smaller birds by the waterside. During spring 

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