228 TREATISE ON 



cry, which is so discordant as to frighten away 

 game and other birds; but we know that the 

 song of the black-headed or reed-bunting is very 

 superior to that of any other British species of 

 bunting, the snow-flakes perhaps excepted; but 

 this last we never heard. 



The black-headed bimting is a timid bird, andi 

 so easily alarmed that it is difficult to take it; 

 and indeed the ground which it frequents, and 

 where it breeds, is not very easy of access : it 

 is impossible to walk with " a stealthy pace" or 

 sUent footing in a marsh : — but, like most of the 

 other species of buntings, it occasionally resorts to 

 corn-fields and roots of hedges, in pursuit ofi 

 food, repairing to the fens, bogs, and marshy 

 places in the evening; and, during long-continued 

 rains, it sometimes betakes itself to the high 

 grounds, and perches among the bushes. 



The black-headed bunting is not a gregarious 

 bird ; indeed, more than three or four have 

 never been seen together, or at most a brood- 

 flock. On the continent it is a migratory bird, 

 arriving there in spring and departing in autumn } 

 but in Britain it remains the whole year. | 



