British Birds in Their Haunts

by C. A. Johns

THE REED BUNTING
EMBERÍZA SCHŒNICLUS

Head, throat and gorget black (in winter speckled with light brown); nape, sides of the neck, and a line extending to the base of the beak on each side, white; upper parts variegated with reddish brown and dusky; under parts white, streaked with dusky on the flanks. Female—head reddish brown, with dusky spots; the white on the neck less distinct; under parts reddish white, with dusky spots. Length six inches. Eggs purplish grey, blotched and lined with dark purple brown.

Wherever there is water, in the shape of a lake, canal, or river, lined by bushes and rushes, there the Black-headed Bunting is pretty sure to be seen at most seasons of the year. The male is strongly marked by his black head and white collar; the head of the female is of the same colour as the body; but the white collar, of a less bright hue, she shares with her mate. 'Reed Bunting' and 'Reed Sparrow' are other names for the same bird. In summer it rarely quits the vicinity of water. At this season its food consists of various seeds and insects; but on the approach of winter it either forms small parties, or joins itself on to flocks of Yellow Hammers, Sparrows, and Finches, and visits the stack-yards in search of grain. It builds its nest in low bushes, or among aquatic plants, very near the ground, employing bents, bits of straw, reeds, etc., and lining it with hair. The eggs are four or five in number, of a dull, livid purple colour, marked with irregular curves or blotches of darker purple, which remind one of the figure of the lines, so often seen on bramble leaves, made by leaf-eating grubs. Its note resembles that of the other Buntings, and is pleasant from its association with walks by the river's side rather than for tone or melody. In Scotland the Reed Bunting is migratory, repairing southwards in October and returning in March.

SNOW BUNTING
PLECTROPHENAX NIVALIS

Head, neck, portion of the wings, and lower parts white; upper parts black, tinged here and there with red. Length six inches and three-quarters. Eggs pale reddish white, speckled and spotted with brown and pale red.

This, though a northern bird also, does not confine itself so closely to the Arctic regions as the preceding species; but is of common occurrence in many parts of Scotland during autumn and winter and later in the season in various parts of England. Macgillivray, whose acquaintance with British birds, especially those of Scotland, was very accurate, was inclined to the opinion that the Snow Bunting or Snow-flake breeds on the higher Grampians, having observed a specimen on a mountain of this range so early as the fourth of August, while the migratory flocks do not appear until two months later. "About the end of October it makes its appearance along the coasts or on the higher grounds of the south of Scotland, and about the same period in the south of England, although it is there of much less frequent occurrence. Assembled in large straggling flocks, or scattered in small detachments, these birds may be seen flying rather low along the shore, somewhat in the manner of Larks, moving in an undulating line by means of repeated flappings and short intervals of cessation, and uttering a soft and rather low cry, consisting of a few mellow notes, not unlike those of the Common Linnet, but intermixed at times with a sort of stifled scream or churr. When they have found a fitting place, they wheel suddenly round, and alight rather abruptly, on which occasion the white of the wings and tail becomes very conspicuous. They run with great celerity along the sand, not by hops, like the Sparrows and Finches, but in a manner resembling that of the Larks and Pipits; and when thus occupied, it is not in general difficult to approach them, so that specimens are easily procured. At intervals they make excursions into the neighbouring fields, alight in cornyards, at barn-doors, or even on the roads, where they obtain seeds of oats, wheat, and weeds, which I have found in them. In the villages along the coast of Lothian, they are sometimes, in spring, nearly as common as Sparrows, and almost as familiar. About the middle of April, or sometimes a week later, these birds disappear and betake themselves to their summer residence." Its habits, as observed in England, are similar; but the flocks are generally smaller. In the Arctic regions, it is abundant from the middle or end of April to the end of September. Its nest is composed of dry grass, neatly lined with deer's hair and a few feathers, and is generally fixed in the crevice of a rock or in a loose pile of timber or stones. In spring it feeds principally on the buds of Saxifraga oppositifolia, one of the earliest of the Arctic plants; during winter, on grass seeds. Peculiar interest attaches to the Snow Bunting, from the fact that it is (according to Linnæus) the only living animal that has been seen two thousand feet above the line of perpetual snow in the Lapland Alps. Mention of it frequently occurs in books of Arctic travels. I must not omit to state that the specimens obtained in Great Britain vary so considerably in the proportions of white and tawny in their plumage, that there were at one time considered to be three several species. In Norfolk, I have seen them in severe weather flocking with Larks, among which they make themselves so conspicuous by the white portion of their plumage, as to be popularly known by the name of 'White-winged Larks'.

THE LAPLAND BUNTING
CALCARIUS LAPPÓNICUS

Crown of the head black, speckled with red; throat and breast black, a broad white band extending from the eye down the sides of the neck; nape bright chestnut; back, wings, and tail variegated with brown, white, and black; under parts white, spotted at the sides with dark brown. Length six inches and three-quarters. Eggs pale ochre-yellow, spotted with brown.

This bird, as its name denotes, is an inhabitant of high northern latitudes; and its occurrence in this country is very rare. A few only have been shot, in places remote from each other; and in the year 1843, a female was captured by a bird-catcher near Milnthorpe, in Westmoreland, and kept for some time in an aviary, where it soon became friendly with its companions and took its daily meal of rape, canary, or hemp seeds, and now and then a sprinkling of oats, with apparent satisfaction. In the Arctic regions it inhabits hilly and mountainous districts, and spends most of its time on the ground, where it runs in the manner of Larks, and where also it builds its nest. The male is said to have a pleasing song, combining that of the Skylark and of the Linnet.