. Birds and their nests and eggs : found in and near great towns . round. MIDDLE OF MAY 55 Many a time when walking by a stream Ihave seen this bird (to all intents a sparrow,were it not for its black head and mode offlight 1) louping along from place to placeas I have advanced, now on a reed, nowon a blade of sedge, bending it nearly doubleby its weight, and the next moment on amay bush or blackthorn, and so on until ata bend in the stream, or a divergence of thepath, my little friend and 1 have partedcompany. The nest on this occasion contained threepurphsh white eggs, streaked and spottedwi
. Birds and their nests and eggs : found in and near great towns . round. MIDDLE OF MAY 55 Many a time when walking by a stream Ihave seen this bird (to all intents a sparrow,were it not for its black head and mode offlight 1) louping along from place to placeas I have advanced, now on a reed, nowon a blade of sedge, bending it nearly doubleby its weight, and the next moment on amay bush or blackthorn, and so on until ata bend in the stream, or a divergence of thepath, my little friend and 1 have partedcompany. The nest on this occasion contained threepurphsh white eggs, streaked and spottedwith dark brown ; it was built of thingrasses, rushes and dried bits of hay, andlined with fine fibrous stalks and hair. Wefound this nest also by seeing the occupantfly out. The male bird kept flitting roundon a privet bush close by, his mate not faraway, quite silent, but in sad dismay. Then we saw a large white bird, quite astranger in these parts. It might have been ^ The black-headed bunting is often called the reedsparrow. 56 WITH THE ISLAND BIRDS ONCE MORE:. XXII : The male bird upon a privet bush close BY—QUITE SILENT BUT IN SAD DISMAY. BlACK-HEADED BUNTING\MALE, IN SUMMER PLUMAGE (^Size). a seagull at first sight, but the mode offlight, the crescent wing, and the weird, * This bird is better known as the Red Bunting. MIDDLE OF MAY 57. melancholy cry, told us at once it was thelarge sea swallow, known also as the greatertern. We thought it was the male watchingand wheeling near its nest or young closeby ; but these we failed to find. The birdslay early in the year, and we were somewhatlate ; the nest, moreover, is a mere hollowin the sand, and the young would have beenhatched by this time, and either flown or ingood hiding with the mother somewherethere. Perhaps next season the pair maycome again, and may we have better lucknext time, said Ted. I echoed these sagewords, especially as I had learned that apair of lesser grebes had been seen there,and probably had nested t
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