BIRDS' NESTS. 209 



nest is constructed of bents and roots and 

 moss, lined with hair. It is a late builder, and 

 hatches its eggs in June and July, the period 

 when grasshoppers, the favourite food, it is 

 said, of its young, are abundant. The eggs are 

 very like those of the common bunting, less 

 spotted, but smaller and marked with longer 

 and more numerous lines. 



REED BUNTING. Emberiza Schcenidus. 



PLATE XVII. PIG. 1, AND PLATE XVIII. PIG. 1. 

 THE nest of the Reed or Black -headed 

 Bunting differs but little from the preceding. 

 It is, however, most frequently placed near the 

 margin of a river or canal, especially where 

 reeds or rushes are abundant. The eggs are 

 four or five in number, of a dull purple brown 

 colour, marked with broad, irregular curved 

 lines of darker purple. Prom the following 

 incident, related by Mr. Neville Wood, it ap- 

 pears that this bird must be classed among 

 those which display an unusual amount of 

 p 



