HUNTING. 
BLACK-HEADED 
EMBERIZA SCIKENICUL US. 
The familiar names of Reed-Bunting or Reed-Sparrow, commonly applied to this species, clearly indicate the 
style of country it frequents. These titles, however, only hold good during summer, as the birds may 
constantly be observed in autumn and winter joining in small numbers with other Buntings, Linnets, and 
Finches. In company with these roving flocks, they move from one spot to another— stackyards, waste lands, 
and any situations where food is procurable being visited. 
From Caithness to Sussex this lively bird is to be met with ; and even the wild and barren Western 
Islands are resorted to at certain seasons, if no residents remain all the year round on those inhospitable 
shores. I remarked a pair or two repeatedly in a few stunted bushes in the garden of a shooting-lodge situated 
on one of the saltwater lochs in the Long Island during the latter end of April and early in May 1877. 
Their presence at such an early date would lead to the impression that they had passed the winter in this 
neighbourhood. TV hen I left the lodge (about the middle of May) the birds were still there; and as no suitable 
nesting-ground could possibly be discovered within a mile or so of their usual quarters (from which they 
were seldom absent for any length of time), I concluded they had yet to make a move to their summer 
haunts. 
The neighbourhood of rush-grown marshes is the favourite resort of the Black-headed Bunting ; and in 
the Broad districts of the eastern counties this handsome bird may be observed in immense numbers and to 
the fullest advantage during fine summer weather. The male, with his black head, white neck, and conspicuous 
red-brown markings on the back, is one of the most attractive inhabitants of these watery wastes. As he flits 
along the river-bank or the side of the marsh-dyke, by no means disconcerted by a passing boat, there is little 
difficulty in closely watching his actions. A short stroll across any of the adjoining grass-marshes that arc 
interspersed with thick patches of rushes and other luxuriant water-plants would doubtless start a female, 
fluttering apparently helpless and injured, from her neatly built nest snugly concealed among the roots of the 
coarse herbage. 
I have no evidence that any migrants from across the North Sea arrive on our coasts during the fall of the 
year. According to my own experience, this species is decidedly less numerous in many English counties 
throughout the winter months than during the breeding-season. This local diminution may probably be 
accounted for by their common habit of joining with other small birds towards the end of autumn and 
deserting their usual haunts. It is evidently the custom of this species to roost in the neighbourhood of 
marshes, though whether in winter they separate from the flocks of small birds with whom they keep 
company during the day I have had no opportunity of ascertaining. As early as the first week in March 
they may be seen towards evening gathering in the direction of some rush-grown pool or ditch in the levels in 
the vicinity of the south coast. A patch of reeds in a small water-dyke running through the marshes between 
Shoreliam and Beeding is a favourite resort. I have on several occasions, while passing, watched them 
