70
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
of Birds, and humane teaching in many schools, are influences
that have, I believe, at length begun to have effect on the
protection of bird-life.
BIRDS THAT NEST ON OR IN BUILDINGS.
Swallows breed in various buildings in Sewardstone, and
appear to me to have been specially abundant in 1930. House-
martins breed regularly on certain houses in Sewardstone-Bury.
A house-martin's nest was taken from one of these in November,
1929. A pair of House-sparrows had annexed it and had
incorporated with the mud of the nest pieces of fabric, etc.
A long piece of string with a noose had caught and hanged the
cock sparrow, the string had passed over the body of the hen
in the nest, and the weight of her dead mate had prevented her
from freeing herself, so that death from starvation had ensued
in her case. There were no eggs in the nest. The sparrows had
possibly used it for roosting purposes.
BIRDS THAT FREQUENT SMALL PONDS.
Reed Bunting. On April 27th, 1923, Miss Benn and I
were returning from Chigwell by Luxborough Lane. It was
dusk and as we approached Basin Pond we noticed that every
reed was alive with birds, as was also the grass around the bank.
Small parties of pied wagtails and reed buntings were ceaselessly
flying around and returning to the reeds and grass. It was
one of the most striking features of bird life I had ever seen.
There must have been hundreds of these two species of birds,
besides many starlings. On reaching home I at once turned
to Mr. Coward's British Birth and read that reed buntings from
the Continent are often accompanied on their journey by pied
wagtails and that at night they roost together in reed beds or
other waterside vegetation.
The reed bunting is not unfrequently seen near Gilwell
Park. We have often stalked it by a ditch near Daws Hill.
Every year I hear and see it at Sewardstone from the public
footpath by the River Lea and this year I flushed the young
from long grass in the same place. The hen bird, perched on a
fence, called "chit" repeatedly, whilst the three young remained
motionless, but I saw them well.
Moorhen. Every year since 1922 I have watched the
nesting of two pairs of moorhens within half a mile from my