1684 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 3 



Field marks. — The rustic bunting has the white outer tail-feathers 

 characteristic of all members of its genus. It may be distinguished 

 from other buntings by the large bright rusty spots that form a well- 

 marked breast-band and contrast on the flanks with the white under- 

 parts. The male in summer is readily identified by the broad white 

 eye-stripe in the otherwise dark head, white throat, and chestnut 

 upper parts streaked with black. The female and the male in winter 

 have a similar color pattern but are much duller. 



Fall and winter. — The rustic buntings start to leave Finland in late 

 August and, as Olavi Hilden (1960) shows, most are gone by early 

 October. Dementiev et al. (1954) state that the peak of the autumn 

 flight in central Siberia and from the Kamchatka and Okhotsk areas is 

 usually in late September and early October. Late migrants have 

 been reported in the Kurile Islands November 5, in Sakhalin Novem- 

 ber 10, and in the Primorsk area November 24. 



In southern Korea, Austin (1948) "found it by far the commonest of 

 the wintering small birds * * *. When you encountered Fringillids 

 at all, you found Rustic Buntings. From December through March 

 flocks numbering upward of 500 birds lived among the weeds in the 

 mulberry fields, and smaller bunches could be found wherever there 

 was cover at almost any time. They began to depart in mid-March, 

 and by early April had all disappeared except for the usual few 

 stragglers." 



Austin and Kuroda (1953) write: "The Rustic Bunting is a com- 

 mon winter visitor in Japan, arriving in late October or early Novem- 

 ber and moving northward again in late March, a few remaining until 

 early May. It is encountered most often feeding on the ground in 

 open cultivated fields and dormant paddies along the edges of wood- 

 lands, in flocks of 20 to 30 or fewer birds. As winter wanes and the 

 spring movement begins, the flocks join together until they contain 

 several hundred or more birds. Its call note is a high, sweet, somewhat 

 plaintive tweet, and just before it leaves in the early spring snatches of 

 its melodious little song can be heard." 



Distribution 



Range. — Eastern Siberia to northern China and Japan. 



Breeding range. — The eastern rustic bunting breeds in eastern Siberia 

 from west-central Yakutsk (Verkhoyansk; east through Verkhne 

 Kolymsk) to northern Khabarovsk, and Kamchatka. 



Winter range. — Winters to northwestern Irkutsk (Taishet), southern 

 Yakutsk (Olekminsk), Ussuriland, northern China (casually south to 

 Fukien), and southern Japan. 



Casual records. — Casual in the Komandorskie Islands, and in the 

 Aleutian Islands (Kiska, Amchitka). 



