REED-BUNTING. 137 



chee. Tlie Reed-Bunting commences to sing in the beginning of April 

 and continues until late into the summer. It is a very lively bird^ more 

 so than the Yellow Hammer^ and is almost as tame. Its flight is undu- 

 lating, like that of all the Buntings, and it also possesses the habit of 

 abruptly alighting, spreading out its tail, and, should it be about to perch 

 on a reed, often fluttering its wings until firmly seated. As you wander 

 along the banks of the water the birds will flit from stem to stem or bush 

 to bush before you for a considerable distance, and then return to their 

 old haunt by crossing the water. It is very fond of clinging to an upright 

 stem or reed. 



The Reed-Bunting pairs rather early in the year, and begins nest- 

 building late in April or early in May. The nest is rarely built at 

 any height above the ground, although Jardine states that he has very 

 frequently found it, in plantations bordering some marshy spot, on a young 

 spruce-fir as much as from one to three yards above the ground; and 

 in the valley of the Petchora I found a nest of this bird built inside an old 

 Fieldfare's nest in an alder-swamp nine feet from the surface of the water. 

 The usual site is upon the ground beneath the shelter of a tuft, in a clump 

 of rushes, or on a bank amongst rank vegetation. I have found it between 

 the slender stems of young willows close to the ground, and it is usually 

 well concealed by surrounding grass, rushes, or moss. Hewitson says that 

 he has, although rarely, seen the nest at an elevation of two feet or more 

 above the water and supported by a bunch of the common reed. This 

 bird, however, never suspends its nest from the reeds, as some of the older 

 writers imagined was the case. The nest is made of various materials : 

 in some districts dry grass, moss, and withered leaves of rushes form 

 the outside, and fine grass and hairs finish ofi' the interior; whilst in 

 more swampy places it is almost exclusively made of dry bents and 

 reed-stems, the feathery tops of which form the lining. The eggs are 

 from four to six in number, sometimes only three. They vary in 

 ground-colour from greyish olive to purplish bufi', spotted, streaked, and 

 blotched with rich purplish brown, almost black. Many of the streaks are 

 underlying and pale violet-grey in colour, and most of the surface -spots 

 are more or less blurred at the edges. The streaks are much thicker and 

 much less tortuous than those on the eggs of the Yellow Hammer, nor 

 are they so long, as a rule, or so numerous ; they are very bold, some of 

 the spots being as large and round as No. 4 shot, and they are generally 

 distributed over the entire surface of the egg. They are not subject to any 

 considerable amount of variation, and are not easily confused with those of 

 any other British species. They vary in length from -85 to -68 inch, and in 

 breadth from -6 to '54 inch. The Reed-Bunting rears, in many cases, two 

 broods in the season. The male bird, while the female is upon her nest, 

 takes up his perch close at hand and there incessantly warbles his simple 



