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THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 371 



This species likewise furnishes a proof of the obstinate manner in 

 which many birds adhere to the southerly course of the autumn 

 migration. 



172. — Cirl Bunting [Zaunammer]. 

 EMBERIZA CIRLUS, Linn. 



Embcriza cirlus. Naumann, iv. 251. 



Cirl Bunting. Dresser, i v. 177. 



Bruant zi~.i. Temminck, Manuel, i. 313, iii. 227. 



I have obtained this Bunting here on two occasions onty, viz. :— 

 a fine male in full adult plumage on the 27th of April 1862, and, not 

 until nineteen years later, on the 31st March 1883, an old female. 

 Seeing that this species nests in isolated instances as far north as 

 central Germany, and is even fairly abundant in the south of England, 

 its rare occurrence on this island might seem surprising. The 

 bird, however, is a pre-eminently western species, breeding most 

 numerously in Spain and Portugal, and thence in gradually de- 

 creasing numbers through the whole of south and central Europe. 

 This species in fact affords another proof of the rare occurrences 

 of western and southern species in Heligoland ; and the two 

 examples killed here probably mark the northernmost point to 

 which this species has ever advanced. 



173. — Strickland's Bunting [Grauer Ammer]. 

 EMBERIZA CINEREA, Strickland. 



EmberisM cinerea. Kriiper, Journal f. Ornithologie, 1875, p. 268. 



Strickland's Bunting. Dresser, iv. 1 59. 



This interesting Bunting was first discovered by Strickland near 

 Smyrna in 1836 ; a second example was obtained by Von Heuglin 

 in North Africa. For several decades nothing more had been heard 

 about the bird until Kriiper, in the spring of 1863, during an 

 excursion to Asia Minor, re-discovei'ed it, as it were. He was 

 looking on the mountains above Burnova for E. ecesia, and shot a 

 Bunting in which, to his great surprise, he recognised what was to 

 him an entirely unknown species. Having once had his attention 

 attracted to the bird he succeeded in obtaining several males, and, 

 later on, females also. In spite of all efforts, however, he was unable 

 to obtain the nest and eggs, although he proved the bird to be a 

 by no means uncommon breeding species in Asia Minor. 



