THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 375 



resemble those of the YelloAV Bunting, but their ground-colour is 

 somewhat more greenish than in the latter species. In one of them 

 the fine veins are almost entirely absent, and the gi'ound-colour is 

 nearly hidden by short reddish-brown lines, as is rather frequently 

 the case in the eggs of the Yellow Bunting. In form and size they 

 are much lilvc larger examples of the latter species; they were 

 obtained in the Altai Mountains. 



The breeding range of this Bunting extends from the Irtish and 

 Altai eastwards through Siberia ; in Turkestan it is, according to 

 Sewertzoff, merely a bird of passage and winter visitant. 



178.— Little Bunting [Zwergammek]. 



EMBERIZA PUSILLA, Pallas. 



Heligolandish : Franzbsk Nieper = French Reed Bunting. 



Emheriza pusilla. Naumann, xiii. ; masms, Nachtrdge, 175. 



Zdttle Bunting. Dresser, iv. 235. 



Bruant nain. Scblegel, Kritische Uebersicht d. Eur. Vbgel, l.^cxi. and 84. 



Claus Aeuckcns is responsible for the above somewhat pecuhar 

 Hehgolandish designation of this bird ; and it is only in use among 

 such shooters as really possess a more than usually intimate know- 

 ledge of the rarer species occurring. The term ' French ' is, how- 

 ever, not to be considered in a geographical sense, but as signifying 

 something quite peculiar, and dift'erent from what has been ever 

 seen before. 



The tirst example of this pretty little Buntmg I obtained on the 

 4th of October 1845, it having been shot by Oeh-ich Aeuckens, 

 the eldest of the three brothers, unfortunately since deceased. After 

 the bird had been once seen and its caU-note marked, it was observed 

 here almost every autumn, and in most cases killed. Some twenty- 

 five or thirty examples have, I should say, passed through my 

 hands. By way of example, I may here give a series of the dates 

 of occurrence of this species : — 4th October 1845 ; 11th October 

 1846 ; 10th and 12th October 1847 ; 30th September, 4th, 9th, 

 11th, 23rd, 27th October, and I7th December 1848; 20th and 26th 

 September 1849 ; 15th September, 10th, 12th, and 18th October 

 1850 ; 5th, 7th, and 9th October 1851 ; 18th, 27th October and 

 9th November 1852. The greatest number of these Buntings, 

 accompanied by E. rustica and other eastern species, appeared in 

 the year 1879. The notes in my diary are as follows : On the 26th 

 September shot one E. pusilla ; on the 27th shot two ditto, and 

 saw one E. rustica ; Claus Aeuckens likewise saw what was probably 

 an E. aureola ; on the 28th shot one E. pusilla, and also saw a pan- 



