'May 



a distracted manner, perching now upon one hand, 

 now upon the other. As I was desirous of showing 

 a full clutch of eggs in the picture, I went back to 

 my friend in the tuft and borrowed two of her eggs 

 for a few minutes, taking care to return the same two 

 afterwards, as they were in a more advanced state of 

 incubation. My solicitude on this account was, un- 

 fortunately, of little service to her, for, owing to 

 some carting operations near her nest, the first bird 

 forsook it a few days later. 



The reed-bunting is not a notable architect, 

 and its nest of dry grass, lined with fine fibres and a 

 little horse-hair, shows no greater skill than those 

 of its relatives the corn-bunting and yellow-hammer. 

 Nevertheless, the two nests I had found so near to- 

 gether, but in different surroundings, exhibited 

 distinct signs of adaptation to the varying conditions 

 under which they had been built. The first one, 

 slung in a close bunch of wiry reeds, was deeper and 

 more closely compacted ; the other, attached to the 

 pliant and less densely growing stalks of the hedge- 

 parsley, was comparatively shallow and open in 

 texture, and where a gap presented itself at one 

 point between the nearest stalk and the rim of the 

 nest, the bird had extended the rim by weaving 

 grass stems in zig-zag fashion so as to form a small 

 horizontal platform. I have found a yellow- 

 hammer's nest with a similar extension in the 

 hollow centre of a hedge. 



The reed-bunting has little to say for itself in 

 159 



