226 THE EEED BUNTING. 



ADDITIONAL. The Eeed Sparrow is a term sometimes im- 

 properly applied to this bird, which is also known as the Water 

 feparrow, the Black-headed or Ring Bunting, the Eing Bird, the 

 Ring Fowl, and the Chink. It is described by MACGILLIVKAY as 

 " frequenting marshy places, where it is seen perched on the wil- 

 lows, reeds, sedges, and other aquatic plants. Its flight is rapid 

 and undulatory, and it alights abruptly, expanding its tail, when 

 the white of that part becomes conspicuous. Although station- 

 ary in England, it is migratory in most parts of Scotland, de- 

 parting in October, and reappearing about the beginning of April. 

 In winter these Buntings form small loose flocks, which break 

 up towards the end of March, when the different pairs betake 

 themselves to their summer haunts." The same author observes, 

 " that it is a very active bird, and that its song, which can scarcely 

 be called pleasant, consists of several short notes succeeded by a 

 long one, Being somewhat similar to that of the Yellow Bunting, 

 though less harsh." 



MTTDIE gives a very characteristic sketch of the habits of these 

 handsome and interesting birds, which are entitled to a high 

 rank in the scale of intelligence, as the following anecdote, 

 related by WOOD in his British Song Birds, will show. " Some 

 years ago, when walking with a friend, I remember seeing 

 two of these birds in an osier bed, the male perched erect 

 at the summit of a willow stem, and his mate remaining 

 beneath, or only occasionally coming within view. On our 

 entering the osiers, they both flew around us in great alarm, 

 mostly in silence, but sometimes uttering a low mournful kind 

 of note, at the same time darting suddenly about the hedge and 

 willow stems, as if impatient for our immediate departure ; and 

 their manners were so different from those commonly observed 

 in the species, that we were convinced that there must be a 

 nest thereabouts. I was well aware of the difficulty of finding 

 the little tenement in a situation of that kind, and accordingly 

 we both of us began to move in different directions, in order 

 to discover by the actions of the birds where their treasure 

 lay. My friend traversed one side of the osier bed, and my- 

 self the other ; but still the loving and faithful couple remained 

 in precisely the same spot, where the junction of two hedge- 

 rows formed a corner; and we therefore concluded, naturally 

 enough, that in that spot all their hopes were centered. But a 

 close and minute investigation of the whole corner, during which 

 time we laid the ground completely bare, revealed nothing to us. 

 At length, a full hour after the commencement of our labours, I 

 hit upon the nest by mere chance, at exactly the opposite end to 

 that at which the Eeed Buntings had been, and still were, prose- 



