an 8 An Bae ee aa Te ae et eg Oe on ee, aaee dee aX eee aed aida, SANTA AAR MAUNA BAD PAW tte ds AS, Neg pa tins 7 “ « ¥; feacovracsiuas ‘ ay oath LpT ENTS A th i4uey rt Ui aes Yada at! " Way Ay rat an 1 it Nt i : Wo AR AR UA a wi nn RNINEMINDMISENEMINT NIMES MEMENUSTMUNTR ERT Cire no yore) VANS An nt My ANCONA AERA ECA aR ThE wi NINN hy SHUN 1 ; \ aby ksh iy ui vat Mi aly ‘1 NIN ENEN LS “aibiahiealadal ite 1, Lan Ahh “ i \ in 1 ni a Sin ali eee seast ce Speen ren RRR on ere re sete Rr \ th 1 1% \ at eye Way bale Wah bad had = ‘ it t Ny hy i r me Eel . ay : NG! \ as st ; i SUst sh i + ys lah aks itt vail iy i TAS Vat yh Ea tea ih : \ Suh nit Wake alia hiyeyadar “™ } bi Se Ag ad pas c ergs: ry i 4 . . =.) Er SH BIRDS. VOT. a: Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/historyofbritishO2bew! A HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS. BY WILLIAM YARRELL, V.P.LS. FZS. FOURTH EDITION, IN FOUR VOLUMES. ILLUSTRATED BY 564 WOOD-ENGRAVINGS. VOLUME II, REVISED AND ENLARGED BY ALFRED NEWTON, M.A. F.RS., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, F.L.S., F.Z.S., ETC. LONDON: JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXXVI—MDCCCLXXXII. LONDON: PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER, MILFORD LANE, STRAND, W.C, CONTENTS OF VOL. II. PASSERKES. EMBERIZID&. Plectrophanes nivalis. Snow-Bunting is lapponicus. Lapland Bunting Linberiza scheniclus. Reed-Bunting - rustica. Rustic Bunting . e pusilla. Little Bunting f miliaria. Bunting - cttrinella. Yellow Bunting cirlus. Cirl-Bunting is hortulana. Ortolan Euspiza melanocephala. Black-headed Bunting FRINGILLID. Fringilla celebs. Chaffinch u montifringilla. Brambling Passer montanus. Tree-Sparrow » domesticus. House-Sparrow . Coccothraustes vulgaris. Hawfinch re chloris. Greenfinch Serinus hortulanus. Serin Carduelis elegans. Goldfinch spinus. Siskin . ; LTinota linaria. Mealy Redpoll. », vufescens. Lesser Redpoll » cannabina. Linnet 5, flavirostris. 'Twite vl CONTENTS, FRINGILLIDH—continued, Pyrrhula europea. Builfinch : erythrina. Scarlet Grosbeak 7 enucleator. Pine-Grosbeak Loxia curvirostra. Crossbill 5 pityopsittacus. Parrot-Crossbill » bifasctata. Two-barred Crossbill » leucoptera. White-winged Crossbill IcTERIDA. Ageleus pheniceus. Red-winged Starling STURNIDZ. Sturnus vulgaris. Starling : Pastor roseus. Rose-coloured Starling Corvipm. Pyrrhocorax graculus. Chough. Corvus corax. Raven. ‘ » corone. Black Crow » cornie. Grey Crow » frugilegus. Rook . » monedula. Daw Pica rustica. Pie Garrulus qlandarius. Jay Nucifraga caryocatactes. Nutcracker HIRUNDINIDS. Hirundo rustica. Swallow Chelidon urbica. Martin . : Cotile riparia. Sand-Martin Proqne purpurea, Purple Martin PICARLA. CYPSELID®. Oypselus apus. Swift : » melba, Alpine Swift. ho bo pb ft J “7 Or Or oe © bo 364 372 CONTENTS. CAPRIMULGIDE. Caprimulqus europeus. Nightjar CucuLipaz. Cuculus canorus. Cuckow : Coccystes glandarius. Great Becred inne Coccyzus americanus. American Yellow-billed Cuckow Upupipa. Upupa epops. Hoopoe CORACIID. Coracias garrulus. Koller. MERopID2. Merops wpiaster. Bee-eater ALCEDINIDE. Alcedo ispida. Kingfisher Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher PICcID2. Grecinus viridis. Green Woodpecker Dendrocopus major. Greater Spotted Wisiu eee: : minor. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Lynx torquilla. Wryneck Vil 419 435 44.3 452 ee Or ey SN ee CO” sar SJ SI NI BRITISH BIRDS. PASSERES. EMBERIZIDA. PLECTROPHANES NIVALIS (Linnezeus *), THE SNOW-BUNTING. Plectrophanes nivalis. PLectropHANeEs, B. Meyer +—Bill hard, conical and short; the upper man- dible narrower than the lower, the edges of both inflected and those of the latter sinuated; the palate furnished with a projecting bony knob. Nostrils oval, basal and placed somewhat near the culmen, nearly hidden by small feathers. Gape angular. Wings long and pointed: first primary finely attenu- ated and so small as to seem wanting; second and third nearly eyual and the longest in the wing, but the fonrth is considerably longer than the fifth. ‘Tail * Emberiza nivalis, Linneus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 308 (1766). + Zusiitze und Berichtigungen zu Meyers und Wolfs Taschenbuch der deutschen Vogelkunde, p. 56 (1822). VOL. II. Lb 2 EMBERIZIDA. moderate and slightly forked. Tarsus scutellate in front, covered at the sides with an undivided plate, forming a sharp ridge behind, about as long as the middle toe. Claws but slightly curved, that of the hind toe elongated. WHATEVER differences of opinion once existed, it has long since been ascertained that the Mountain-, the Tawny and the Snow-Bunting of old authors, are only names for one and the same species in different states of plumage; but to whom belongs the credit of establishing this fact beyond dispute is by no means clear. Linneeus indeed never fal- tered in his opinion of their identity, though Pennant and, after him, Latham for some time, took the contrary view. Turton, in 1807, was perhaps the first British naturalist who united the three supposed species into one. This was also done on the continent by Wolf in 1810, by Temminck in 1815 and by Koch in 1816; but both at home and abroad they were regarded as distinct by others, and Montagu maintained to the last the separation of Emberiza montana, though allow- ing that ZL. mustelina and £. nivalis might be specifically identified, on the evidence apparently of his friend Foljambe, an excellent practical ornithologist,—who in a letter to him said “a few years ago, I shot more than forty from the same flock, during severe weather in the month of January, hardly any two of which exhibited precisely the same plumage, but varied from the perfect Tawny to the Snow-Bunting in its whitest state; the feathers of those of the intermediate state being more or less charged with white.” The Snow-Bunting or Snow-flake is generally considered only a winter-visitor to this country, and to the other tem- perate parts of Europe; large flocks, consisting chiefly of the young birds of the year, bred in high northern latitudes, annually visiting our islands in autumn. But there is little doubt that some pairs breed every summer in the Highlands of Scotland, while the nest and eggs have been several times found in Unst the most northerly of the Shetlands. Pen- nant, during one of his tours in Scotland, learnt that they bred on the summit of the highest hills in the same places as the Ptarmigan, especially naming Invercauld, where he had one shot for him on August 4th; and Thornton mentions SNOW-BUNTING. 3 that he saw some Snow-flakes on the top of a Ptarmigan- mountain near Lochaber August 29th, probably in 1784 or 1785.* It does not appear that the Snow-Bunting was again observed in summer in this district until the middle of July 1874, when Mr. Nicholas Cooke (who had seen several birds on Ben-y-Bhean, one of the Ben Nevis range, July 6th, 1866), as he kindly informed the Editor, saw one in immature plumage on Craig Maige, a hill about 4000 feet high at Loch Laggan. On the other hand the species has been frequently noticed in summer in the neigh- bourhood specified by Pennant. Thus Macgillivray mentions his having observed a beautiful male bird flitting about the summit of Ben-na-muic-dhui (4500 feet) August 4th, 1830, and his meeting some days afterwards with a flock of eight —evidently a family-party, near Lochnagar + (3700 feet) at the top of which just twenty ycars later he again saw three examples (Nat. Hist. Dee Side, p. 45), while he states on the authority of three informants that the species breeds on several other mountains in the vicinity. From his earlier experience he had already inferred the probability of the Snow-flake breeding, perhaps in considerable numbers, on the higher Grampians, though he truly remarked that it was impossible for the vast flocks seen on the lower grounds in winter to be exclusively of Scottish origin. In 1859, Mr. Edward asserted (Zool. p. 6597) that he had often met with the bird in different places in Banffshire during summer, but had never been able to detect it breeding. Mr. R. Gray states that he has most satisfactory information as to the species being seen throughout the year on the mountains already named, as well as others near them in the counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Inverness, adding that it was a source of wonder to his informants that they had never found the nest. On June 21st, 1870, Col. Drummond-Hay saw a pair on Ben-na-muic-dhui where he had no doubt * The year in which the Colonel's expedition was made seems to be nowhere stated in his book, and the present Editor only gives it approximately from internal evidence. + It must not however be supposed that the ‘‘ Snow-flake”’ of Byron’s poem on this mountain refers to the bird. 4 EMBERIZID&. they were nesting, and in 1871 Mr. Harvie Brown heard that young birds had been again seen on Lochnagar. Mr. Gray also learnt from Mr. Wilham Hamilton that on July 12th, 1868, that gentleman and his brother saw, on the top of Scuir Ouran, a hill some 4000 feet high on the borders of Inverness and Ross, two pairs of Snow-Buntings, which no doubt were breeding, and the same- naturalist also states that near Gairloch, in the western part of the latter county, there is a group of high mountains which are lkewise frequented by these birds in summer, while Mr. John Bateson of Shielday has lately informed him that they breed in a range of precipitous hills in that neighbourhood.* In the posthumously-published ‘Birds of Shetland’ of the lamented Dr. Saxby it is stated that a few Snow-Bunt- ings invariably remain throughout the summer in those islands. Many years ago, having observed them in pairs from May till August on the hill and cliffs of Saxaford in Unst, he became convinced that they must breed there, and his suspicions were strengthened by seeing two of their eggs among the spoils of a local dealer. However he says “No certainty in the matter was arrived at until the 2nd July 1861, when a man discovered a nest and three fresh eggs, all of which he brought to me. He had found them in the crevice of a rock near the top of one of the high sea-cliffs at Burra- firth, below the hill of Saxaford. The nest was rather shallow, and was composed of coarse grass and fibrous roots, lined with wool and fine hair of horses and cows. After this I often observed the birds in the breeding season, once in July, about the chffs at Graveland, but usually near the old spot.” In 1867 Saxby again obtained three more unidenti- tied specimens, and in 1871 a nest and four eges which had been found the preceding summer among the stones of a demolished cain in Saxaford. This nest is described as being very like the former one, but it was a little thicker and contained a few pieces of fern in the walls. In the Feeroes a considerable number of Snow-Buntings pass the summer. On the more southerly of the islands * Capt. Kennedy thinks that it also breeds in the Orkneys (Zool. s.s. p. 3914). SNOW-BUNTING. 5 they are restricted to the mountain-tops, but on the more northerly they frequent the lower grounds in small colonies. Wolley found a nest with almost fully-fledged young and an addled egg on the Loisinga Fjeld, July 15th, 1849, but on that hill, in 1872, Capt. Feilden searched carefully without coming across a bird. Throughout Iceland the species is perhaps the commonest of small birds—a pair or more being established in nearly every convenient locality, even among the most desolate lava-streams, and 1t breeds there almost on the sea-level as well as up to the snow-lne. According to Faber it winters in that island. In Spitsbergen it is the only Passerine bird which is ordinarily met with, and though it can hardly be called very numerous there it breeds almost as far to the northward as the land extends. It is doubtless only a summer-visitor, and Dr. Malmgren observed a large flock at sea in the latitude of Bear Island on May 19th, which after resting for a short time on the rigging of the vessel pursued their way in the direction of Spitsbergen. In Nova Zembla Mr. Gillett found it to be very common, and according to Dr. von Heuglin its southward migration thence begins in the middle of September. It breeds throughout Norway, both on the more northern islands of the coast and on the higher fells of the interior, especially within the Arctic Circle, but also on some of the southern mountains, even in Thelemark so low as lat. 60°. Except those on or near the frontier there are few hills in Sweden of sufficient altitude to afford this species a congenial home, but on such as are high enough both there and in Finland it is almost unfailingly to be observed. In Russia the southern limit of its summer-range does not seem to be recorded, but it is believed to breed on the eastern slopes of the Ural, and thence across the most northern portion of Siberia to Behring’s Strait—its distribution at that season being pro- bably as much affected by elevation above the sea-level as by latitude. Throughout the most northern parts of the New World it also breeds, and in many places very abundantly, so that its summer-habits have there been well observed, and for a long time the accounts given by the older explorers 6 EMBERIZID%. of the Arctic coasts and islands of America furnished almost all the information possessed by naturalists concerning its nidification. But here again the southern limit of its breeding-range seems to be unknown. Audubon mentions a nest found on the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but from the description we may almost safely pronounce that it did not belong to this species. Mr. Allen however, on the authority of Mr. C. W. Bennett, states that a pair reared their young in 1862 at Springfield in Massachusetts. Still Mi. Reeks believes that the Snow-Bunting can hardly breed in Newfoundland, where one would expect that it should, though he saw many there in June 1868. In Green- land it is very abundant and breeds generally throughout the country, for it was even observed by Dr. Pansch to be the commonest land-bird on its seldom-visited east coast. As already intimated on the approach of autumn the Snow-Bunting migrates southward from most of its breed- ing-quarters. In Iceland indeed it is found all the year round, though we may presume that those which remain there are comparatively few, and large flocks visit the Feroes in winter-time, but in Norway at that season it rarely occurs in the most northern districts. From Tromsé, however, southward it frequents the coast-region in countless nun- bers. These countries supply most of the examples which regularly resort to our own islands and in some years appear in vast flights. The beginning or middle of October is usually the time of their arrival, but a few stragglers are occasionally seen in September *, and though severe weather generally drives them further to the southward, in many localities they abide with us till the end of March or begin- ning of April. During their stay with us the greater number affect rough ground or open fields near the sea- coast, but from time to time small parties occur far inland, so that there is hardly a county in the three kingdoms in * The earliest date for England is perhaps Sept. 16th, 1875, on the Lincolnshire coast, of which Mr. Cordeaux has informed the Editor; but in the South-west of Scotland Capt. Kennedy has observed it in July and August (Zool. s.s. p. 3914). These birds may have been bred in Great Britain. SNOW-BUNTING. if which the species is not known to have been observed—its appearance in the south of both England and Ireland being, however, far less frequent and regular than in the north. Elevated moors and uplands generally are, almost equally with the localities just named, a favourite resort, and when these are covered with snow the birds descend to the lower grounds where larger supplies of food are to be obtained. “Their call-note is pleasing,” remarks Selby, “and often repeated during their flight, which is always in a very compact body; and frequently before settling on the ground, they make sudden whirls, coming almost in collision with each other, at which time a peculiar note is produced.” So close indeed do they fly that one of Thomson’s correspon- dents states that he had killed thirty at a single shot, and they crowd together as much when they alight, so that Mr. Lubbock likens the appearance of a flock at rest to “a variegated carpet.” Saxby writes “Seen against a dark hill- side or a lowering sky, a flock of these birds presents an exceedingly beautiful appearance, and it may then be seen how aptly the term ‘Snow-flake’ has been applied to the species. I am acquainted with no more pleasing combina- tion of sight and sound than that afforded when a cloud of these birds, backed by a dark grey sky, descends as it were in a shower to the ground, to the music of their own sweet tinkling notes.” Their food in winter seems to be chiefly grass-seeds, so long as these are forthcoming, but on the sea-coast near the Humber, it consists almost exclusively of the seeds of Schoberia or Sueda maritima, as mentioned by Mr. Cordeaux, and the Editor is able to state the same fact as regards the west of England from examples sent him by Mr. Cecil Smith and examined by Mr. Hiern. On occasion they will also eat corn—especially oats. Thompson states that once in the north of Ireland they did great harm by picking the sown wheat from the ridges, and Dr. Gordon informs the Editor that they yearly do considerable damage in this way on the shore of the Moray Firth. In America Wilson found them, in October, feeding not only on the seeds of water-plants, but on the shelled mollusks which adhered 8 EMBERIZID &. to the leaves. On the ground, and in Western Europe they seldom perch on a tree or bush,* they run with ease and speed after the manner of Larks, and like those birds are easily netted or snared. They arecommonly fat and well-flavoured. In confinement they seldom live long except under very favourable conditions +. On the continent the Snow-Bunting is a regular winter- visitor to the north of France, central Germany and all the countries between these parts and its breeding-haunts. Stragelers occasionally wander further and have been ob- tamed though rarely in the south of France, Switzerland and Italy. Two examples are said to have been caught at Malta in 1840 but possibly the species was mistaken.+ Nevertheless Tyrwhitt Drake saw a specimen, since exam- * In North-eastern Russia, however, Messrs. Brown and Seebohm saw them repeatedly perching, both singly and in flocks, upon trees. Audubon in America speaks of their frequently alighting on trees (Orn. Biogr. ii. p. 516), but Dr. Coues (Birds of the Northwest, p. 119) says he has rarely seen them do so. Such is certainly not their habit with us, and the instance to the contrary recorded by Mr. Murray Matthew (Zool. p. 6208) is possibly unique. The state- ment in the published version of Linneus’s Lapland journal (Lachesis Lapponica, ll. p. 97) respecting the people who with a crossbow-bolt ‘‘ take successful aim at the Emberiza nivalis or Snow-Bunting sitting on the top of the most lofty pines ” is such that no ornithologist could suppose was made by one so well acquainted with this species as his account of it (Sw. Vet. Ak. Handl. 1740, p. 368) shews him to have been, and therein he expressly says that it does not commonly sit upon either bough or bush; but it is satisfactory to the Editor to say, after consulting the original manuscript (p. 260) in the possession of the Linnean Society, that the translator mistook the words ‘‘ sma Sparfver” (small Sparrows) for ‘* Snd-Sparfver” (Snow-Sparrows) and thus led Sir James Smith to the further error of introducing the scientific name of the latter. + They have however been more than once known to breed in eaptivity, and Mr. Stevenson possessed a pair which in two successive seasons built a nest inside some rock-work in his aviary. It was indeed inaccessible to his examination but the birds were seen for some days carrying into the hole a large quantity of materials, and soon after the hen used only to appear at long intervals and then for but a few minutes at a time, feeding hastily like a sitting bird and returning to the hole which was jealously guarded by the cock. This went on for about a fortnight when it was supposed that the eggs were hatched, but the young pro- hably died in a few days owing to the want of proper food, for the parents soou abandoned the hole. ¢ The Snow-Finech (Montifringilla nivalis) from its general resemblance to the Snow-Bunting has in several cases been the cause of error as to the occurrence of the latter in the south of Europe. The bill and hind claws however afford ready characters whereby the one bird may be distinguished from the other. SNOW-BUNTING. 9 ined by Col. Irby, which had been picked up dead at Cape Spartel near Tangier, and Mr. Godman mentions the appearance of a flock of about a score on Corvo, one of the Azores, in the winter of 1864-65, while an example killed in Fayal, another island of that group, was subsequently sent to him. There is no record of its occurrence in Por- tugal or Spain, and it seems to be equally a stranger to Greece or Turkey though it occasionally visits the Crimea. In Asia we have no information as to the southern limit otf its winter migration, but Mr. Swinhoe says that it visits the north of China in cold weather, and the Zoological Society has received a living example from Japan. In America its distribution in winter seems to depend almost entirely on the severity of the season and especially on the amount of snow which may fall, but it is believed not ordinarily to penetrate further towards the south than lat. 35° N. and on the Pacific coast not so far. In the Missouri valley and in New England it is often exceedingly abundant. In the Bermudas it is said seldom to fail making its appearance in December and January, sometimes in considerable numbers. From all southern districts, on the approach of spring, it again returns to the northern latitudes whence it came. Many of the dreariest places in those countries are en- livened by the Snow-Bunting making its home among them. From his perch on some moderate elevation the cheerful, not to say melodious, song of the cock, conspicuous in his pied plumage, gladdens the heart of the traveller over the wildest lava-streams and most barren moors of Iceland, and in lands still more desolate, or even totally destitute of human inhabitants, the agreeable effect of his notes is heightened. But the song, or part of it, is also often delivered on the wing, the bird springing into the air and hovering some ten feet or more above his wonted seat to which on its conclusion he again repairs, or he will flit to some similar station an hundred yards off and thence renew the performance; while his chosen partner, whose more dusky attire makes her less easily seen, is busily engaged in getting her living from the scanty herbage that sprouts VOL. II. Cc 10 EMBERIZID%. between the massive rocks and stones with which the ground is thickly strewn,* or idly basks in a sheltered nook where the slanting rays of the northern sun shed a warmth that though feeble is not despicable. Each pair of birds seems to occupy at this season a limited and almost definite range, the invasion of which is instantly resented by the cock, who with a defiant note darts towards the intruder, when there follows a fierce fight only terminated by the conquest and flight of one of the antagonists, whereupon the victor re- turning to his citadel celebrates the triumph in his loudest strain and most fantastic dance. Even the fitful changes of the stormy summer of these countries do not altogether quell the spirit of this brave little bird, and through driving sleet or thick fog he may still be heard at his post, while with the first gleam of sunshine he is again as gay as before. When his mate is sitting he will often wander to a consider- able distance, but his quickness in perceiving the moment that she, however silently, leaves the nest is something wonderful, and his instantaneously rejoining her shews that he has never been forgetful of his duty. This feature in his character makes the discovery of the nest by any one who has a fair amount of patience almost a matter of certainty. By keeping an eye on the actions of the cock the hen must sooner or later be found, and if imeubation be begun not many minutes will then pass before she cautiously commences her return. This she generally accomplishes by a circuitous route, and, creeping close to the earth, taking advantage of every inequality of the ground so as if possible to keep out of the spectator’s sight, her movements are hard to follow, and occasionally the bird’s-nester will find that her ingenuity has been too much for him. But prudence and a little ex- perience will generally reward his efforts and enable him to mark her disappearance in the mass of stones or chink of a rock in which is the object of her care. Yet to reach the nest when its place is thus discovered is often a work of toil. It may be at the end of a long and tortuous approach, re- * In Arctic America at this time the food is said by Richardson to be buds of Saxifraga oppositifolia, one of the earliest of northern plants. SNOW-BUNTING. lat quiring the removal one by one of many stones of various | sizes, it may be ensconced behind some huge boulder which needs all the engineering resources of the seeker to stir or, buried securely beneath a slab of earthfast rock, 1t may com- pletely defy his power.* Then too his hopes are often cis- appointed, for, despite his utmost precautions, at the last and critical moment some earth or splinters of stone loosened by lever or wedge may be found to have fallen in upon and cracked the eggs as they he. All these circumstances generally combine to render the successful taking of a Snow-Bunting’s nest one of the most delicate and exciting operations on which an oologist can enter, except that personal danger is seldom if ever involved. As is shewn by the accumulation of old materials often found therein, the birds commonly use the same nest-hole more than once. A rude collection of dry grass, moss or any other plants that may be growing near forms the founda- tion and outworks of the nest. This is hollowed out to receive a quantity of finer grass and roots substantially woven into a bowl, which will occasionally bear removal from the outer mass without losing its shape, and is lined with hair or soft feathers—especially those of the Ptarmigan of the country. Herein are laid the eggs, from four to six or even eight in number, measuring from ‘91 to ‘82 by from ‘65 to 57 in. They are white, more or less tinged with pale greenish-blue, on which are patches of lilac, sometimes very bright but generally dull, the whole closely or sparingly spotted, streaked and splashed with deep brownish-red, upon which again are frequently a few apparently black spots and irregular lines. Some eggs when fresh are of exceeding and almost indescribable beauty. It remains to add that the young, soon after they are * Capt. Lyons found a nest placed in the bosom of the corpse of an Esquimaux child on Southampton Island. + Pages might be written on the breeding-habits of this species without ex~ hausting the subject. The Editor has necessarily to be brief here and only to describe what seems to be absolutely requisite to give a slight notion of them. To him the Snow-Bunting will always be one of the most interesting of birds, from the many hours he has passed in watching its behaviour. 1 EMBERIZID &. hatched, are clothed with dark sooty down, and are fed, as would appear from Herr Collett’s observation, chietly on the larvee of Zipulide. Their plumage when they have left the nest will be presently described, and they accompany their parents for some time, perhaps until the advancing season gives all warning to depart for other lands. Then the dif- ferent family-parties unite in bands whose numbers are daily swollen by fresh adherents until they form a mighty host that with the first frosts of winter takes wing over the southern seas. The adult male in breeding-plumage*, of which a good representation is given by Bewick, has the bill black: the irides hazel: the head, neck and all the lower parts pure white, though in some examples the top of the head and the nape are mottled with black, and there is generally a black spot visible above and behind the ears. The upper wing- coverts, except those of the bastard-wing which are black, and the secondaries white; but the latter are often black towards the extremity, though their tip seems to be always white; and in some examples the middle wing-coverts are also black, bordered with grevish-white, forming a distinct black bar across the wing; the primaries and tertials are black, the former however white at the base, and the latter often bordered outwardly with white; the back is jet-black, mottled more or less on the rump with white; the three inner pairs of tail-quills black, occasionally shehtly bordered or tipped with white, but the three outer pairs are nearly white, with a black patch towards the tip: the legs, toes and claws black.+ The adult female, at the same time, much resembles her * Tn this state English specimens are very rare: one was killed in the grounds of Mr. Wortham, at Royston, May 22nd, 1840, and given by him to the Author of this work ; a second, ‘‘ pretty far advanced,” was shot near Penzance in April. 1864, as recorded by Mr, Rodd (Zool. p. 9109); a third, in “ full summer OE: plumage,” was obtained, according to Mr. Dutton (Zool. s.s. p. 792), April 14th, 1867, at Eastbourne, and a fourth, in ‘full breeding plumage,” at the same place early in July, 1872, as mentioned by Capt. Kennedy (Zool. s.s. p. 3914). + The birds which in breeding-plumage exhibit the black mottling of the head and the black bar on the wings are most likely those in which the white tip of the fedthers is worn off more than in the others. SNOW-BUNTING. 13 partner, but the white on the head and the rest of the upper parts is much more mottled with black and dusky, and oe colours are not so pure. The young, in its first plumage, has the bill yellow, dark at the tip of the upper mandible, the head, sides of the neck and the back are of a greyish-olive, variegated towards the rump with reddish-brown; the white of the wings is also tinged, and the quills of both wings and tail are bordered with the same colour; the throat and lower parts are dirty white, tinged on the throat and belly with pale yellow, and on the breast and flanks with reddish-brown. The adult male, on its arrival here towards winter, as figured at the head of this article, has the bill yellow, darker at the tip: top of the head and the ear-coverts more or less covered with deep reddish-brown on a white ground ; the feathers on the back black at the base, with broad ends of pale reddish-brown; the wings much as in the summer- plumage except that the tertials are broadly bordered with dull chestnut; upper tail-coverts black at the base with broad ends of pale reddish-brown or, in some examples, of white, and hardly shewing any of the first colour; the tail as in summer; all the lower parts dull white, more or less tinged with reddish-brown on the breast and flanks. In this state it has been called the Tawny Bunting; when present- ing less white than the figure here given, as is in the state called the Mountain- Bunting. The female at the same time, figured by Bewick as the Tawny Bunting, has the top of the head dull chestnut- brown, which becomes paler on the nape; the whole upper surface mottled with blackish-brown and dull chestnut ; the wings shew but little white except at the tip of the lesser coverts and the base of the secondaries; the white of the tail is less bright; the chin and throat are dull chestnut, becoming deeper in tone across the upper part of the breast, the rest of the lower surface dull white. The whole leneth of the male is about seven inches. From the carpal joint to the end of the longest quill-feather, four inches and a quarter. The females are a httle smaller. cs EMBERIZID.X. Systematic ornithologists long ago recognized the distinct- ness of the families Kinberizide and Fringillide, but of late most authors have shewn a disposition to merge the former in the latter. Very recently Prof. Parker has ascertained the existence in the Hmberizide of an additional pair of palatal bones (the “palato-maxillaries,” as he calls them) which are wanting in the normal VFringillide, and this discovery will probably lead to a restoration of the older view; but it would seem that certain American forms, as Cardinalis and Phrygilus, hitherto unhesitatingly assigned to the Fringillide, also possess these bones, and will therefore have to be included among the Lmberizide, though it is not at all impossible that among the birds of the New World some will be found which, by the structure of their palate, bridge over the gap between the two families. The palatal knob, so characteristic of most of the of the Old World—is, according to the same investigator, formed by a swollen ingrowth of the dentary edges of the premaxillary mass. The Linnean genus Himberiza has been split into many groups by various authors. Several otf these obviously do not deserve recognition as genera, the characters which distinguish them being very trifling; but the present species and the next differ so much aa the normal Buntings in the form of the wing, in the straight hind-claw, and in their habit of running and not hopping on the ground and of singing in the air, that the admission of Bernhard Meyer’s genus, Plectrophanes, for their reception would appear to be needed. LAPLAND BUNTING. 15 PASSERES. EMBERIZIDA. PLECTROPHANES LAPPONICUS (Linnzus *). THE LAPLAND BUNTING. Plectrophanes Lapponica. THE LAPLAND BUNTING, a native, as its name imports, of the most northern parts of Europe, and even of the Arctic Regions pretty generally, has been taken on several occasions in this country. ‘The first instance was announced to the Linnean Society by Selby, early in 1826, the bird having been found in Leadenhall Market, whither it had been sent with some Larks from Cambridgeshire, and after being preserved by Mr. Weighton of the City Road, passed into Vigors’s collection, which was subsequently given to the Museum of the Zoological Society. The second exam- * Fringilla lapponica, Linneus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 317 (1766). 16 EMBERIZID®. ple was caught on the downs near Brighton, in or prior to 1827, and kept caged for some months, when it came into my own collection (Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. p. 156). The third was also taken alive in September, 1828, a few miles north of London, and its capture made known by Mr. Gould (Zool. Journ. v. p. 104). The fourth, caught near Preston in Laneashire, in October, 1853, was selected from a variety of other small birds in the Manchester market, and is now preserved in the museum of that city. The fifth is recorded (Zool. p. 516) as having been obtained in the summer of 1843 near Milnthorpe in Westmoreland. Each of these examples exhibited the plumage of the less conspicuous bird in the woodeut here given. On September 30th, 1844, an adult male was netted with some Larks on the downs near Brighton ; and this specimen, which I have seen in the pos- session of Mr. Borrer, is in the plumage of summer as represented in the lower figure, but undergoing a slight change from the advance of the season. Since this date the occurrence in England of more than a dozen examples has been put on record. Most of them were caught alive, and kept for a longer or shorter time in captivity. Three of them are said to have been taken near Brighton, three not far from London, four in Norfolk, two in the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, one near Southport in Laneashire, and one near Durham. In most cases the birds were associating with Larks, and no mention is made of any one of them being accompanied by others of its own species. The Lapland Bunting is stated to have been found twice in Caithness, the only instances of its being observed in Scot- land; but its appearance in Ireland has not been recorded. The home of this species is neither so far to the north- ward nor in such alpine heights as that of the preceding. It never verges on the line of perpetual snow nor inhabits the stony wastes so much affected by the Snow-Bunting, but prefers the upland swamps where there is a_ thick growth of low willows and other plants characteristic of such spots, especially if there be also an abundance of long grass. These places are in Lapland equally the resort of LAPLAND BUNTING. 17 the Bluethroat, the northern form of Yellow Wagtail, the Red-throated Pipit and the Titlark; but this Bunting will also frequent higher levels than any of those birds, the last only excepted, and may be found in colonies where the cloudberry and the dwarf birch form the prevailing vege- tation. Arriving from the south at such bogs, so soon as the surface-soil is thawed, the cock-birds are fond of display- ing their gay plumage to the best advantage on any elevated perch, and rising in the air deliver, while hovering on the wing and then gently gliding to another station, a song that though not marked by any brilliant notes has a tone of sweetness; yet the gesture by which it is accompanied supplies its principal attraction. When not singing they mostly occupy themselves in chasing or being chased by one another, or, sitting on the most prominent position avail- able—and it must be said that any prominent position on a bog of this kind is comparatively humble —from time to time utter a rather harsh though plaintive note. The pre- liminaries to the breeding-season being ended, this species is usually seen in pairs, but the several pairs do not evince that dislike of their neighbours’ society which is so cha- racteristic of the Snow-Bunting, and thus the same suitable moss or portion of a moss, often of very limited area, will accommodate a dozen or more pairs which, the exciting period just mentioned being past, soon enter peaceably upon the work of nest-building. For this purpose the shelter of a thick tussock of grass, the base of a lgneous shrub or any inequality the ground itself may present is chosen, and the foundation is laid with the usual rough materials. Within this a cup-shaped nest is formed, chiefly of the stems of dry grass, and then a bedding of soft feathers is superimposed. This lining, according to the Editor’s experience, invariably * distinguishes the nest * Richardson, however, writing of this bird in Arctic America, says that the ‘‘nest is lined very neatly and compactly with deer’s hair.” He was an observer so scrupulously accurate that one can hardly doubt his word, yet it is to be remarked that it seems just possible for him to have mistaken the nest of one of the allied North-American species (Plectrophanes pictus, which is said not to use feathers, for example) for that of the Lapland Bunting. Nests of this last VOL. II. D 18 EMBERIZID Ai. of the Lapland Bunting from that of any other bird fre- quenting the locality, and therefore deserves especial men- tion, since the eggs, from five to seven in number, not uncommonly so closely resemble those of the Red-throated Pipit (Anthus cervinus), Titlark and even the Reed-Bunting (which occasionally finds its way to the breeding-haunts of the present species) that they cannot always be picked out. They measure from ‘87 to ‘78 by from ‘61 to ‘55 in., and have a clay-coloured or pale grevish-chocolate ground, suf- fused with darker reddish-brown, on which are seen spots, blotches and curved lines of a darker shade of the same tint, in many places distinct, but the larger markings gene- rally with blurred edges. When the young have left the nest they accompany their parents for some time, and the family-parties unite towards the end of the summer, but it does not appear that this species ever forms very vast congregations—indeed it is hardly anywhere sufticiently numerous to do so, being generally a local bird. In Europe its breeding-range seems not to extend further southward than lat. 62° N., and that only in the mountain-districts of Norway, while i Sweden, Finland and Russia its summer-limit, though from want of information not to be determined, must he much more towards the north. In Asia also it cannot be said to be known to breed outside of the Arctic Circle, but in Eastern Siberia it is apparently more abundant than else- where in the Old World, since in autumn Mr. Swinhoe found it in the market at Tientsin by thousands which had doubtless been bred to the northward. In the New World it breeds on the most western of the Aleutian and on the Prybilov Islands, as well as in Alaska. The Hepburn Collection in the Museum of the University of Cam- bridge contains a specimen in full summer-plumage from Fort Simpson in British Columbia, which is perhaps the obtained by Mr. H. Ws Elliott on the Prybiloy Islands are said to have con- tained feathers, and those from Greenland, of which the Editor has seen several, are profusely lined with them. It may here be mentioned that eggs of this bird from Greenland are on the average distinctly larger than those from Lapland. LAPLAND BUNTING. 19 most southern locality known for the species in America at that season, though Mr. Trippe’s observations in Minnesota induce him (Proc. Essex Inst. vi. pp. 115-119) to think that it may breed in that State. Richardson states that it breeds in moist meadows on the shores of the Arctic Sea, and that is also the case along the west coast of Green- land, while the German Expedition obtained it in full sum- mer-dress at Shannon Island on the east coast. Mr. Dresser was informed by Herr Benzon that he had received its eggs from Iceland, but the species must be rare in that island if indeed there be more than the one unquestion- able instance of its occurrence, in 1821, as recorded by Faber. The line of this bird’s migration has been supposed to lie a good deal to the eastward, for though, as already said, it is In summer pretty widely distributed in Norway and Lapland its occurrence at other seasons has been but seldom recorded in the western part of the continent of Europe. This remark applies even to the lowlands of Central and Southern Norway and Sweden, and it has only been observed as an irregular autumnal visitor to Denmark, many districts in Germany, Holland, Belgium and France. But on the other hand this apparent rarity is most likely due to its being overlooked in those countries, since Mr. Cordeaux, on Mr. Giitke’s authority, says that in Heligoland it is so com- mon in autumn as not to be considered worth shooting. In severe winters it has been met with much further to the southward, even in the neighbourhood of Montpellier, as well as in Piedmont and in Lombardy, but it does not seem to reach Central Italy. Its occurrence near Geneva was long ago recorded by Necker, and further eastward it has been met with in the Vienna market and at Lemberg. In Central and Southern Russia it is said to be very rare, but about Moscow and Jaroslav a few are met with in spring and autumn, but not every year. Across the Ural—which chain of mountains it has from the time of Pennant been known to frequent, while it has even been supposed to breed near Ekaterineburg—it becomes more abundant, and, accord- 20 EMBERIZID.E. ing to Eversmann, is very common on the Kireis Steppes. Thence we have no intelligence as to the extent of its winter-migrations till we come to China, its appearance in the northern parts of which country has been already noticed. In America the limits of its range at the same season are also uncertain, but it would seem not to reach California on the west, further to the southward than the Upper Missouri in the interior, or Kentucky and Pennsyl- vamia for the eastern part of the continent. Richardson never met with this species in the Fur-countries during winter, but in 1827 it appeared on the plains at Carlton House about the middle of May and on the newly-ploughed land at Cumberland House, which is a little further to the north, a few days later; but in the preceding year many were seen early in May at Fort Franklin, though that is situated within a degree of the Arctic Circle. The latest collections, made by Kennicott and others, in this part of the Dominion of Canada speak to the abundance of the Lapland Bunting near the Mackenzie River and the Great Slave Lake. In its fondness for swampy places and its general appear- ance this bird much resembles our common Reed-Bunting, so that it may have been often mistaken for that species ; but, though frequently perching on bushes, it runs on the ground as does the Snow-Bunting; and, except in the breed- ing-season, has many times been observed in company with the latter or associated with the Shore-Lark. As to its food little has been ascertained. The crops of those killed at Fort Franklin were filled, says Richardson, with the seeds of Arbutus alpina, but the Chinese, according to Mr. Swinhoe, take them in springes baited with the small maggots which are found in decaying millet-stalks, these birds must therefore have a strong fancy for animal food even in winter. Herr Collett found only small insects and gravel in the stomachs of those which he examined during the summer in Norway. The adult male in full breeding-plumage has the bill yellow, with the point black: irides hazel: the whole of LAPLAND BUNTING. yen | the head velvet-black *, with the exception of a streak of yellowish-white which, beginning at the nostril, runs on either side over the eyes, where it becomes a broad stripe, and passes above and behind the ear-coverts to the sides of the neck whence it turns downward to the throat; beneath this stripe a collar of bright chestnut, widest on the nape of the neck, extends forward to a point on either side; the back, rump and upper wing-coverts, dark brown with lhehter edges, those of the smaller wing-coverts being whitish, the rest reddish-brown, which .becomes almost chestnut on those of the greater coverts and tertials; the outer flight- feathers blackish-brown, with a narrow light outer margin ; the tail-feathers also blackish-brown, with narrow lighter edges, but the two outer pairs have an angular patch of white and a brown shaft-mark towards their tip ; beneath, the black of the head descends to the throat and upper part of the breast, where it forms a fine gorget surrounded by the white stripe already described; the rest of the lower parts dull white, the sides of the breast and flanks being streaked with black: legs, toes and claws, pitch black. The whole length is about six inches and a quarter, From the carpal joint to the end of the wing, three inches and five-eighths. The female differs in wanting the conspicuous black head and gorget, and in having the top of the head blackish-brown, the feathers tipped with wood-brown, the under portion of the ear-coverts and a stripe from the corner of the mouth black—the rest dull yellowish-white; the chin and throat dull white with a black line descending from each corner of the lower mandible, which there uniting with the stripes from the mouth forms an ill-defined patch on the upper part of the breast; the chestnut collar is smaller and less bright than in the male and is more or less mottled with dark brown; the rest of the plumage is nearly alike in both Sexes. After the autumn-moult the male has those parts which * If the plumage be not quite perfect there is generally a trace of a light median streak on the occiput. 22, EMBERIZID%. were black in summer, as well as the chestnut collar, mottled with dark brown and white. The darker hue of the breed- ing-dress is produced by the buff edges of the feathers dropping off. My own young bird has the bill brown: the whole plumage dark brown, with light brown edges; wing- and tail-quills brownish-black ; throat, breast and all the lower surface, pale brown, spotted with darker brown on the breast and flanks: legs, toes and claws, light brown. The vignette represents the foot and sternum of this species. REED-BUNTING. 23 PASSERES. EMBERIZIDE, EMBERIZA SCHGNICLUS, Linnzus *. THE REED-BUNTING. Emberiza scheniclus. Empenriza, Linnewus t.—Bill hard, conical and short; the upper mandible not wider than the lower, the edges of both inflected and those of the latter sinuated ; the palate generally furnished with a projecting bony knob. Nostrils oval, basal and placed somewhat near the culmen, partly hidden by small feathers. Gape angular. Wings moderate: first primary finely attenuated and so small as to seem wanting ; second, third and fourth generally nearly equal, the fourth or fifth commonly the longest in the wing and considerably longer than the next. Tail rather long and slightly forked. ‘Tarsus scutellate in front, covered at the sides with an undivided plate forming a sharp ridge behind, almost as long as the middle toe. Claws considerably curved, that of the hind toe of moderate length. THE REED-BUNTING, or Reed-Sparrow f, as it is most com- monly called, is a well-known inhabitant of marshy piaces * Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 311 (1766). Tt Tom. cit. p. 308. ¢{ The name of Black-headed Bunting, first applied to this species by Beilby (who wrote the text of the first volume of Bewick’s well-known work) and adopted in former editions of these volumes, had already been appropriated by Latham to a perfectly distinct species. As the latter has now to be included as a ‘ British Bird” there seems to be no choice left but to fall back upon the older and far more generally used name of Reed-Bunting. 24 EMBERIZID&. and the sides of running or stagnant waters where they are bordered by alders, osiers, reeds or rushes; and, though local from its partiality to such situations, it is not a rare species 1 this country, where if remains throughout the year, shifting its haunt however to some extent according to the season, and in hard weather not unfrequently joining the congregations of other Buntings and Finches which assemble round corn- stacks and in barn-yards, occasionally far away from water. The contrast of the black head of the cock-bird in spring or summer with the white collar on the neck, and the varied colours of the back, give it an agreeable appearance, and it 1s accordingly a pretty general favourite. If suitable localities are visited, the male during the breeding-season may be seen perched on a conspicuous spray by the water-side, amusing his mate and himself for an hour together with his song, which consists of an interchange of two or three notes, the first of which are short and the last of all long. This song, repeated at brief intervals, has a family-likeness to that of the allied species, but, apart from its seeming harmony with the dreary spots the bird often frequents and enlivens, it must be deemed wanting in melody, and when heard, as it may also be, in a fertile valley amid the voices of other birds sounds harshly and out of place. The nest is generally built on the ground among long grass or rushes, at the foot of a thorn or on the side of a bank, more rarely in a low bush, elevated some few inches above the ground; but Jardine states that he has frequently found it on a young spruce-tir, at the height of from one to three yards. It con- sists of coarse grass with a little moss, lined with finer grass and hairs, or in places where reeds abound the feathery tops of those plants often form the sole lining and the greater part of the structure. The eggs are from four or five to seven in number, of a pale purple-brown or clay-colour, spotted, blotched and streaked with a darker purple-brown or black, and measure from ‘83 to ‘7 by from ‘62 to 56 in. Incu- bation often begins at the end of March, but a second nest is generally made, and perhaps even a third brood is pro- duced in July. Several observers have recorded the artifices REED-BUNTING. yas to which this species has resort to distract the attention of man from its progeny. The most common of these is the feigning of lameness by the mother-bird, who with trailing wing or leg, as if disabled, will shuffle through the herbage for a considerable distance; but at times the cock will also enter into the wiles of his mate, and both parents will dis- play an extraordinary amount of solicitude in regard to a spot which does not harbour the young with the consequence of misleading the intruder, if at all wanting in experience, from the place where they lie. The food of the Reed- Bunting is grain, seeds (chiefly those of grasses) and insects —on the larve of which last the young are especially fed— with small freshwater crustaceans and mollusks, and its stomach usually contains much fine gravel. By some of the older naturalists the song and the nest of the Reed-Wren and Sedge-bird already described (vol. i. pages 369 and 376) have been attributed to the Reed-Sparrow, and perhaps there may yet be writers so ill-informed as to con- tinue the mistake. The hurried, varied and chattering notes of both those Warblers can never be for a moment confounded with the simple strain of this Bunting by any one who has heard the latter, and in ike manner though its nest be occa- sionally composed of the same materials as that of the Reed- Wren, before figured in this work (tom. cit. page 375), the one can always be known by its smaller size and neater workmanship, and by its being wholly suspended between the reed-stems, while the other even when attached to the stems seems to be always supported from beneath. The Reed-Bunting breeds in suitable localities almost everywhere throughout the British Islands, Shetland being the principal exception, since there, according to Saxby, only three examples have been observed, but these arrived in the earlier half of the year. Baikie and Heddle state that it has bred in Orkney, and Mr. Gray says that it does so in most of the Outer Hebrides, indeed, according to information communicated by Capt. Powlett-Orde, it is very common in North Uist. In Scotland generally its numbers seem to receive a large increase in winter, and probably the same is VOL. II. E 26 EMBERIZID &. the case to some extent in England—at any rate on the east coast. In Ireland, says Thompson, it is a resident distributed over the whole island, which from the prevailing humidity is peculiarly well suited to it. It is found in swampy ground over almost the whole of continental Europe from the neighbourhood of the North Cape to the Straits of Gibraltar, and apparently in all the principal islands of the Mediterranean as far as Crete. It occurs too in the neighbourhood of Tangier, and, according to Loche, inhabits all three of the provinces of Algeria, but from the silence on the subject of several other observers in that country 1t would seem not to be plentiful there, and it is not to be traced further to the eastward in Africa. As to the determination of its range in Asia great difficulty at present exists, for there is certainly a second, if not a third, form of Reed-Bunting found in many parts of Siberia, and the Russian ornithologists do not agree with regard to the rank to be assigned to either or both. It would seem, however, that a form quite indistinguishable from our own occurs throughout the south-western portion of the Russian dominions in Asia, and that this was also found by Dr. Severzov in Turkestan. Mr. Hume too (Ibis, 1869, p. 355) has obtained it from near Badlee, some thirty miles to the south of Delhi, and the identity of the species with the European bird was subsequently confirmed by the late M. Jules Verreaux, though the Reed-Bunting had been hitherto unknown in India. The bill is dusky brown above, paler beneath: irides hazel: the adult male in breeding-plumage has the whole of the head jet-black, bounded by a white collar, which descends to the breast ; from near the corner of the gape a white stripe passes backwards below the ear-coverts and joins a broad white nuchal collar, which is succeeded by a narrow band of iron-grey and dull black; back and wing-coverts deep brownish-black, each feather broadly bordered with bright bay and ochreous, the former so predominating on the upper wing-coverts that they seem to be wholly of that colour; the wing-quills dark brown, the primaries with a narrow margin REED-BUNTING. 2 of ochreous-white, but that of the secondaries and tertials, especially the latter, broader and redder as the inner part of the wing is approached; the rump and upper tail-coverts brownish-black mixed with iron-grey; the tail-quills dark brown; the middle pair somewhat lighter than the rest and with broad light edges, the two outer pairs margined exteriorly with white and having a large white patch on the inner web ; chin and throat black, which it first widens out under the white collar and then forms a pointed gorget ending on the upper part of the breast; all the rest of the lower plumage white, which is pure on the sides of the breast, belly and lower tail-coverts, but clouded and streaked with brown on the sides of the body, flanks and tibize: legs, toes and claws, brown. The adult male in autumn and winter has all the feathers of the upper parts so broadly bordered with heht reddish- brown that the darker tints are greatly if not altogether obscured. The same is the case on the chin and throat, so that the bird seems to have a brown head, only here and there mottled with black. In the spring these light edges fall off and leave the head and throat of a pure black. The whole length of the male is six inches. From the carpal joint to the end of the wing, three inches: the third, fourth and fifth primaries nearly equal in length, and con- siderably longer than the second, which again is a httle longer than the sixth. The female is rather smaller than the male, and has the upper part of the head and ear-coverts dark brown, the feathers being bordered with lght reddish-brown; the lores and a stripe over and behind the ear-coverts, pale yellowish- brown; the back and wings almost as in the male; the chin and lower parts dull white with an interrupted streak of dark brown descending from each lower corner of the mandible ; the feathers of the chest dark brown along the shaft, becoming light reddish-brown on each web, and bordered with dull white, so as to present a distinct and broad spotted gorget. Young birds in autumn and winter have the bill dusky 28 EMBERIZID®. horn-colour, the lower mandible yellowish; the plumage generally resembles that of the female, but the light-coloured borders of the feathers are so long as to conceal nearly all the darker part, and while those of the crown of the head, the nape and back are edged with ochreous-erey, those of a stripe on each side of the vertex, and of the wing-coverts, tertials and inner secondaries are more rufous; the line immediately over the eye, and the front and sides of the neck are pale ochreous, but the ear-coverts and the streak from the lower corner of the mandible are distinctly marked with dark brown; the pectoral gorget is ill-defined, and the longitudinal streaks which mark it are continued along the sides of the body and flanks. Young males seem to acquire the black head in the spring following their first winter. It was proposed by Friedrich Boie (Isis, 1826, p. 974) to separate this species from the genus EHmberiza, but whatever reason he might have had for so doing he gave none, and it seems to the Editor that none which can be deemed sufficient is assignable. Nevertheless Boie’s pro- posed genus Cynchramus has been adopted by several writers. The vignette below represents the breast-bones of the great Bunting, to be presently described, and the Reed-Bunting. ice = a. \ : —— . \ RUSTIC BUNTING. 29 PASSERES. EMBERIZIDE. tele EMBERIZA ‘RUSTICA, Pallas *. Pe RUSTIC.’ BUNTENG. News of the first and hitherto the only known occurrence in England of the beautiful Bunting above figured was com- municated to ‘The Ibis’ for 1869 (p. 128) by Mr. Gould in a letter dated December 30th, 1868. The specimen, which is now in the collection of Mr. Monk, was caught near Brighton, October 23rd, 1867, and shewn while alive to Mr. Rowley. Its portrait has been given by Mr. Gould in his ‘Birds of Great Britain.’ The proper home of this species is the north-eastern part of Europe and the most northern part of Siberia. Pallas originally described it as arriving in March in the willow- beds of Dauuria, afterwards adding that it is abundant along the rivers of Transbaikalia, where it sits on the ground and trees singing with a voice not unlike that of the Reed-Bunting. Steller observed it in Kamchatka, as Kitt- litz subsequently did. Nearer to us it was shot at Hapa- * Reisen durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs, ili. p. 698 (1776). 30 EMBERIZID. randa, May 20th, 1821, and the specimens so obtained were described as a new species, under the name of Hmberiza horealis by Zetterstedt (Resa genom Sveriges och Norriges Lappmarker, 1822, i. p. 107), who was not aware of Pallas’s prior discovery; but Prof. Nilsson, who had pre- viously met with the bird and thought it to be a variety ot EE. scheniclus, a few years later conclusively identified the two supposed species. Zetterstedt during a second journey (Resa genom Umea Lappmarker, 1853) _ be- lieved he had met with it in various places in Umea and Lycksele Lappmark, but there is reason to suppose him mistaken; for, though Schrader states (Journ. fiir Orn. 1853, p- 256) that he found it breeding in Lapland, it never revealed itself to the keen scrutiny of Wolley, Pastor Sommerfelt or Herr Nordvi, and it must be regarded as a mere straggler to that country. Nevertheless a little further to eastward it would seem to be a regular summer- visitant, and Dr. Malmgren has kindly informed the Editor that it breeds every year near Kajana in Finland, in which country it had before been observed by Johann von Wright and Arthur von Nordmann. In the neighbourhood of Archangel also it annually appears and doubtless breeds. The naturalists to whom we owe nearly all our knowledge of the ornithology of Northern and Eastern Siberia—Drs. von Middendorff, von Schrenck and Radde—never found it breeding in the parts of the country which they explored, though they corroborated the statement of Pallas by observing it as a regular bird-of-passage in various localities. Mr. Swinhoe has met with it in North China; * and it has long since been recorded as a visitor, at least, in Japan. As astraggler in autumn or winter it has occurred several times in Southern Sweden, and occasionally in Germany from Altenburg to Austria. Mr. Giitke has obtained it at least four times in Heligoland, and it extends its wanderings * In one of his numerous and valuable contributions to Chinese ornithology (Ibis, 1861, p. 255) he stated that this species had occurred to him in Talien Bay, in June or July, 1860, but herein he was, as he has subsequently informed the Editor, in error, having mistaken another species for it. RUSTIC BUNTING. ol not unfrequently to the South of France and Northern Italy. Naturalists have long hesitated whether the Mtilene de Provence, figured in the ‘Planches Enluminées’ (656, fig. 2*), was not this species, and to judge from the plate so it was; but the belief of De Montbeillard and some others in its being a native of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean is assuredly an error. It was said by Temminck to occur in the Crimea, but this is probably one of the random assertions to which he was prone, and the authority on which it was made is not stated. Of the habits of this bird little has been recorded. They would seem on the whole not to differ much from those of the Reed-Bunting; byt Messrs. Alston and Harvie Brown state that the specimens they procured near Archangel were found in marshy pine-woods and in openings in the forest—places which would hardly be frequented by that species. They add that its.call-note resembles that of its congener; but other observers have likened the sound to that produced by very different birds—the Redwing and Redbreast for example. Disregarding, for the reasons before assigned, the account given by Schrader, nothing seems to be positively known as to its nidification. An egg pro- fessedly belonging to this bird, in the possession of the Editor, measures ‘84 by ‘6 in. and is of a pale greenish- white, patched with dull ash-colour and streaked and spotted with dark olive—much resembling certain varieties of those which the Lapland Bunting occasionally lays. Few of the Buntings bear confinement well, but M. Barthélemy-Lapommeraye kept an example of this species in an aviary for two years, and Mr. Keulemans, the draughtsman to whom the present edition of this work is indebted for the foregoing figures of this and some of the other species now for the first time introduced, had an example for more than eighteen months in a cage. It was a cock-bird, and was bought by him at Amsterdam in October 1868, but made its escape in England in April 1870; while in the year last * On this figure is founded the Lmberiza leshia of J. F. Gmelin (Syst. Nat. i. p. 382). 3 EMBERIZID&. mentioned a third is said to have been brought alive from Moscow to Berlin. The adult male in full swnmer-plumage has the bill greyish-yellow, with the upper mandible brown: the irides yellowish-brown: the lores, ear-coverts and top of the head black, with but a scanty trace of the pale median streak along the vertex which at other seasons is very conspicuous ; above and behind the eye a stripe of pure white passes backwards, nearly meeting a white patch on the nape, which is immediately succeeded by a collar of bright bay descending on each side so as to encircle the throat; the back and upper wing-coverts are reddish-brown mottled with black, the feathers of the former, with the scapulars, being black near the shaft edged with bright bay and then more or less broadly bordered with buff; the middle and lower wing- coverts brownish-black with heghter borders and white tips, forming two well marked bars across the wing; quills dark brown with lighter edges, the two outer tail-quills on each side having an oblique white patch; rump and upper tail- coverts bright bay, the feathers bordered with buff; chin black next to the bill, and, in some specimens, with an inter- rupted black line extending downwards on each side from the lower corner of the mandible, the rest of the chin and throat white, as is the whole of the lower surface beneath the bay collar, which sometimes passes into deep brown on the median line and always forms a more or less well-defined band across the upper part of the breast; the sides of the body and flanks broadly streaked with bright bay: legs and toes flesh-coloured, claws somewhat darker. In winter the same bird has the feathers generally broadly bordered with buff, so as almost entirely to conceal the deeper tints of the plumage, and, in many examples, even at the sreeding-season, these borders not being entirely shed, especially from the top of the head, give the bird a very different appearance, but the characteristic colouring may always be discovered by examining the middle part of the feathers. The adult female in summer has the bill yellow: the top Cy: 5 RUSTIC BUNTING. 33 of the head and ear-coverts brown, mottled with dark brown and buff; the lores, vertical streak, superciliary stripe and nuchal patch ochreous-white ; the bay collar narrower and duller than in the male, and the warmer tints of the whole plumage fainter except on the rump, where the bay is as bright as in the other sex. The young in autumn greatly resemble those of the Reed- Bunting at the same season, but the tone of plumage generally is yellower, the nuchal spot is distinct, and the bay of the collar, sides of the body and the rump, even when partly concealed by the ochreous borders of the feathers, can always be detected. The nestling plumage resembles that of the old hen in the breeding-season, but the reddish tints are less bright above and entirely wanting beneath, while the whole of the lower parts from the chin to the vent is thickly streaked or spotted with dull black. The specimen in full summer-plumage here described is in the Strickland Collection of the University of Cambridge. The other examples were kindly lent to the Editor by Mr. Dresser. VOL, Il. by 34 EMBERIZID A‘. PASSERES. EMBERIZIDA. EMBERIZA PUSILLA, Pallas *. LHE LITTLE BUNTING, AT a meeting of the Zoological Society of London on November 8th, 1864, Mr. Gould exhibited a specimen of this species, previously unknown to Britain, which he said had been lately taken in a clap-net near Brighton (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 377). Soon afterwards Mr. Rowley furnished (Ibis, 1865, p. 113) some additional particulars of its capture, which took place on the 2nd of the month named, and, from his examination of the lhving bird, not only identified the species to which it belonged, but con- cluded that it had not escaped from captivity. This speci- men has since passed into the possession of Mr. Monk. While like the species last described a native of the northern parts of Eastern Europe and of Asia, this small Bunting seems to be far commoner and perhaps to have a somewhat wider range in its autumnal wanderings than Lmberiza rustica, as well as to be a regular instead of an occasional visitor to certain localities in Western Europe, though it has doubtless been often overlooked in * Reisen durch versehiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs, 11. p. 697 (1776). LITTLE BUNTING. 35 others. A hen-bird is recorded by Prof. Nilsson as having been shot near Lund in April, 1815, but there is no men- tion of the subsequent occurrence of the species in Sweden, nor of its appearance in Finland, Norway, or Denmark. Yet in Heligoland Mr. Giitke meets with one or two examples in September or October of almost every year, and, accord- ing to Prof. Schlegel, a hen was taken near Leyden, 18th November, 1842. Mr. Keulemans has informed the writer of three other examples in Holland :—the first was bought at Rotterdam in September 1862, and, after living about three months in confinement, is now in the Museum of Leyden: the second was caught by Mr. Keulemans himself in October 1862, and the third was found by him in a cage, but the owner refused to part with it. In the autumn of 1874, Mr. Labouchere caught another near Harlem. Still in Germany it is only reported from East Prussia, and it has not been observed in Belgium or Northern France. In the South, how- ever, of the country last namedit is said by M. Jaubert to be the commonest of the rarer Buntings which annually con- eregate about Marseilles, and several examples have been taken in Northern Italy, where they seem for some time to have passed under the name of #. durazzi, which is now generally though not universally regarded as a synonym of #. pusilla. A pair were obtained near Vienna in 1850, by Herr Zelebor and are preserved in the Museum there. It is included by Messrs. Elwes and Buckley as a rather rare winter-visitor on the Bosphorus. Writers on European ornithology were slow to admit this species to a place in their works, and it was not until Prof. Schlegel had recorded its occurrence in Holland, as above stated, that it was recognized as a denizen of this quarter of the globe, yet it has been found to be not unfrequent by all observers of birds who have visited the north of Russia—Prof. Lillje- borg, Herr Meves and Messrs. Alston, Harvie Brown and Seebohm. Near Archangel, say the two first of our countrymen, it is “avery common species, but apparently somewhat locally distributed. It frequents both pine-woods of large growth and thickets of underwood, but seems to 36 EMBERIZID. prefer young woods with a mixture of pine, fir, alder, and birch. We often heard their sweet low song, more resem- bling the warbling of some Sylvia than of an Hmberiza, which was generally poured forth from the top of a tree; they had also a low ery of alarm, which may be expressed by the words ‘tick, tick, tick’ repeated at intervals of about a second. We did not find any nests, but obtained the young in several stages.” Pallas, who in Dauuria discovered this species, described it as being common about the mountain-torrents and in the higher larch-woods of that country, subsequently adding willow-beds to these localities. It is there migratory but often killed by the cold. In spring it eats beetles of the family Tenebrionide, His successors in the exploration of Eastern Siberia have amplified his observations. Dr. von Middendorff found it breeding on the Boganida, where, how- ever, if was very rare and he only obtained two of its nests from which he figures three eggs. He also observed it on passage on the shore of the Sea of Ochotsk. Dr. von Schrenck found a nest on the Lower Amoor in the opening of a fir-forest. This contained five eggs, was placed on the ground between the tussocks of a swamp, and was art- lessly built of grass-stalks and larch-leaves. Prof. Radde, in the south of Eastern Siberia, obtained nearly a score of specimens, including the young and old of both sexes, but as a breeding bird it seemed to him to be rare and segregated. It was late to arrive and late to depart. In the north of China Mr. Swinhoe says it is abundant, spread- ing southward in winter. At the same season it is found over the whole extent of the Himalayas, and would seem occasionally to wander into the plains of India during the cold weather, for Jerdon who had already procured it at Darjeeling afterwards shot one near Kolassee in the Purneah district. Mr. Hodgson obtained it in Nepaul, and Prot. Adams in the North-west Provinces. The eggs are figured by Dr. von Middendorff as having an ochreous-white ground, blotched and spotted with reddish- brown and black, and measuring from ‘88 to ‘7 by from ‘)8 LITTLE BUNTING. a7 to ‘53 in.