Passeres 83 



upper parts make the male a very conspicuous object as 

 he sits on the top of some bush or clings to the highest 

 reeds, whence he flits along before an intruder to 

 another similar spot. He is by no means shy and 

 constantly utters a sharp call-note, besides which he 

 has a clear drawMng song of the type usual in Buntings. 

 The hen is brown with reddish head and black streaks 

 on the throat. In winter the birds sometimes gather 

 in flocks, but generally frequent the fields and especi- 

 ally the ditches ; for there seems to be little migration 

 to or from the Continent in the case of our home-bred 

 birds, though occasionally numbers cross to us from 

 abroad. There the range extends over all the Palse- 

 arctic region, except north Africa, if we do not 

 separate smaller or much larger billed forms ; in Britain 

 this species has not been found breeding in Shetland. 

 The food includes insects from the marshes, small 

 crustaceans and moUusks, grain and seeds of various 

 plants. The nest, of grass and moss or dead marsh- 

 herbage, is placed in a low shrub, or in vegetation just 

 clear of the ground, but always in damp spots ; it is 

 lined with hair or dry reed-flowers and contains about 

 five brownish white or distinctly green eggs with 

 purplish brown markings, which may include a few 

 scrawls. 



The Lapland Bunting [Galcarius lapponicus) was, if 

 not overlooked, a decidedly rare winter migrant to 

 Britain until 1892, when a large irruption took place, 

 followed by others in each subsequent year. Its habits 

 are more those of a Pipit than a Bunting, and with us 

 it generally keeps to the shores and coast-lands. The 

 black crown and face of the male are in striking con- 

 trast with the chestnut nape and white sides of the 



6—2 



