250 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



rather than that of a Bunting. In this respect it shows an 

 affinity with the eggs of Emberiza melanocephala and E. luteola, 

 and, to some extent, with those of E. nivalis, though the latter 

 often have some small streaks. The eggs vary in length from 

 0'8G to 0'76 inch, and in breadth from 0'6 to 0'56 inch. 



THE LITTLE BUNTING. 

 {Emberiza pusilla.) 

 Plate 57, Figs. 15, 1G. 



Notwithstanding the fact that this rare little Siberian Bunting 

 visits Heligoland almost every year, only a single example has been 

 obtained in the British Islands. It is an Arctic bird, occasionally 

 breeding on the tundra above the limit of forest-growth, but 

 rarely found in summer south of the Arctic circle, except at con- 

 siderable elevations. Its range extends from the valley of the 

 Dwina eastwards to the Pacific. 



The nest found by Schrenck on the Lower Amoor was placed 

 on the ground between tussocks of moss, and made of grass inter- 

 mixed with the spines of the larch and fir. In various parts of 

 the Yenisei valley I discovered four nests. Two of them were 

 merely holes made in the dead leaves, moss, and grass, copiously 

 and carefully lined with fine dead leaves ; the other two were 

 similarly placed, but were lined more or less with reindeer hair. 



The eggs in the first nest were very handsome, almost exact 

 miniatures of those of the Corn Bunting. The ground colour is 

 pale grey, with bold twisted blotches and irregular round spots of 

 very dark grey, and equally large underlying shell-markings of 

 paler grey. The eggs in the second nest were much redder, being 

 brown rather than grey, but the markings are similar. Those 

 in the third nest have the markings similar to those previously 

 described, but the ground-colour is browner, being less olive than 

 those of the first clutch and less red than those of the second ; 

 whilst those in the fourth nest are intermediate in colour between 

 those of the second and third clutches. They vary from 0'78 to 

 0'(38 inch in length, and from 0'6 to 0'53 inch in breadth. 



