EMBERIZINA, 221 
THE REED-BUNTING. 
EMBERIZA SCHENICLUS, Linnzus. 
This bird is often called the Reed-Sparrow, and has, unfortunately, 
also been known as the Black-headed Bunting, which has led 
to confusion with the totally different species already described 
(p. 205). It is resident and generally distributed throughout Great 
Britain and Ireland, breeding sparingly even in the Outer Hebrides 
and the Orkneys, though only a rare visitor to the Shetlands. In 
summer it frequents fairly damp spots, whether on the banks of 
sluggish streams bordered by alders, osiers and sedge, or rush-grown 
places on swampy moorlands. In winter it sometimes assembles 
in flocks, and Booth found from forty to fifty birds roosting on 
patches of reeds by small marsh dykes ; at that season also, in search 
of food, it often shifts its haunts to stubbles and other places at 
some distance from water. At intervals large numbers have been 
known to cross the North Sea from the Continent and visit our east 
coast in autumn, while a similar migration has been noticed on the 
shores of Ireland. 
The Reed-Bunting inhabits suitable localities in Europe from the 
vicinity of the North Cape to the Mediterranean, though in the 
northern portions it is partially migratory, while it occurs irregularly 
on Heligoland. In Spain and the extreme south, however, it is chiefly 
observed during the winter, and comparatively few remain to breed. 
It occurs in North-western Africa, yet in the North-east and in 
Egypt it seems to be uncommon, and to Asia Minor it is only a 
winter-visitor. Eastward, it is found across Siberia to Kamchatka ; 
