212 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds. 



not. Their beautiful little nests, lined with horsehair, I suppose no 

 man, who has ever been a boy, is ignorant of, nestling down in 

 some snug hole in the bank, from which the bird flits up from under 

 your very feet. The bird has a most peculiar and drawling kind of 

 song, if you can call it one, the last syllable of which they prolong 

 in a very quaint manner, and which always used to be likened in 

 my younger days to the following words : " A very little bit of 

 bread and no che-e-e-e-ese ! " the first words being uttered very 

 rapidly, and the latter prolonged ad libitum. The next time my 

 reader hears our little friend, let him see if he cannot recognize this 

 humble petition. 



Emberiza Cirlus. " The Cirl Bunting/'' This bird is very likely 

 to be mistaken by the unobservant ornithologist for a dull specimen 

 of the last species, which it greatly resembles. They are not very 

 numerous, but are widely scattered round the neighbourhood, and it 

 would not be hard to procure specimens of them. About 1868 Mr. 

 Norwood shot a pair of these birds not far from Salisbury. Champion 

 also tells me that he has trapped them occasionally on the downs 

 round the " Great Yews," a copse some three or four miles off, and 

 near Red-lynch. They are always to be found round Mere, where 

 they breed annually, and from which place Mr. Baker tells me he 

 could procure specimens almost at any time, if they were wanted. 

 But they are, no doubt, rather local in their habits. The cock bird 

 can be at once distinguished from the Yellow Bunting by its black 

 throat, and duller plumage generally. Of the Ortolan Bunting — 

 Emberiza Hortulana, I can gather no information. 



Emberiza ScJtceniclus. "The Reed Bunting/'' A very prettily- 

 marked little bird is this, which is also quite common in our water- 

 meadows. The cock bird is not altogether unlike a small neat 

 House Sparrow, with its black head and chin and mottled brown 

 back, which has given rise to its sometimes being called the " Reed 

 Sparrow," although in reality it is a very different kind of bird. I 

 have taken its nest frequently in our withy-beds, which is generally 

 beautifully concealed in an osier stump, and which very often would 

 be undiscoverable, were it not for the anxiety of the parent bird, 

 who flies off at your approach, and tries every method of decoying 



