142 MARSH BUNTING. 



when they are green. When the swamps are swollen it is not to 

 be got at, but later it arrives on the borders of these swamps, and 

 then it is to be discovered by its contrast with the blood colour of 

 the club reed. It is very lively; the male clings to the joints of 

 reeds, and utters, like Salicaria turdoides, its crisp song. It is not 

 so plentiful as E. schoeniculus , and goes away earlier." 



Enough has, I think, been said to prove the specific distinction 

 of this bird. Of its nidification Degland tells us: — "It nests on the 

 edges of marshes, among rushes, between the roots of aquatic plants. 

 Its nest is composed exteriorly of the filaments of vegetables, dry 

 plants, and is lined with horse-hair. Its eggs, in number from four 

 to five, are of a dull white, distinctly marbled with brown, (according 

 to Temminck,) or (according to Crespon,) of a white, shaded into 

 greyish, and marked with a multitude of small brown spots most 

 numerous at the larger end." 



"In manners and habits the Marsh Bunting differs but little from 

 the Reed Bunting. Its note, according to Crespon, is briefer and 

 stronger. The same author remarks that it breaks the stems of the 

 reeds to eat the pith, and that it also feeds on insects." 



I collect the following notes of this bird from the "Ibis:" — "Common 

 in Corfu and Epirus in winter. A few remain to breed on the 

 island." — (Lord Lilford, 1860, p. 189.) "Mr. Robson says it is common 

 (in Turkey;) we saw it in Macedonia in February." — (Messrs. Elwes 

 and Buckley, "Ibis," 1870.) "This species, which differs from the 

 foregoing ( E. schceniculus J in its size, its stronger bill, and especially 

 its note, is found in the east of Spain, and there are specimens in 

 the Museum of Valencia. In November, 1867, I observed several 

 birds of this species from a short distance; but perched as they were 

 on the reeds of the Segura, then a swollen flood, it would have been 

 useless to shoot at them. Had I not watched them I should certainly 

 have attributed their hoarse note to the frogs, which swarm in the 

 neighbouring ' acequias' " — (Mr. Howard Saunders, on the Birds of 

 Spain, 1871, p. 218.) 



I take the following from Salvadori, "Fauna d'ltalia:" — ' £ This species 

 inhabits the same regions as the Reed Bunting (E. schceniculus J , and 

 it also nests there, arriving in April and departing in September. A 

 few remain during the winter. At present it has not been met with 

 either in Sardinia or Malta. It nests in Venetia, Modena, Tuscany, 

 and Sicily. It builds, like the Reed Bunting, among the rushes and 

 roots of aquatic plants. The eggs are rather larger than those of the 

 Reed Bunting. According to Savi, this species differs from the pre- 

 ceding one, not only by its larger dimensions, but in the different 



