2o6 BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. 



fifteen times, in May and June, and once in August ; but I do not 

 find it recorded from Northern Germany, though it sometimes visits 

 Austria. It has also occurred near Marseilles, and along the Riviera 

 to Liguria ; while in Verona, as well as down the east side of Italy, 

 it is not uncommon and breeds occasionally, as it does abundantly 

 in Dalmatia on the further side of the Adriatic. To Sicily and Malta 

 it is only a rare visitor, and it does not seem to cross to Africa. In 

 Greece, Turkey, the Danubian Provinces, Southern Russia, Asia 

 Minor, Palestine and Northern Persia it is common from the end of 

 April to autumn, after which it migrates to its winter-quarters in 

 North-western and Central India, where immense flocks are found 

 during the cold season. 



The Black-headed Bunting seldom ascends the mountains to any 

 great elevation, preferring the flat ground planted with vines, olive- 

 trees, pomegranates <S:c., near the sea-shore. The nest is generally 

 in climbing plants, rose-bushes or brambles, and, in Turkey, often 

 among peas, which are allowed by the gardeners to stand until the 

 time that the young are fledged. It is rather loosely constructed of 

 the stalks of small flowering plants, with a lining of dry grass, roots 

 and hair. The eggs — difi'erent in appearance to those of any other 

 European Bunting — are pale greenish blue, speckled with ash-brown, 

 and are 4-6 in number : measurements "85 by 7 in. In summer 

 both young and old feed on grasshoppers and other insects, and on 

 fruit ; but in India, during autumn and winter, considerable havoc 

 is made in fields of grain. Canon Tristram says that this bird has 

 nothing of the Bunting in its habits or character, whereas Seebohm 

 asserts that in its habits and song it is a typical Bunting. The call- 

 note of the male is a vibrating monotonous chiririri. 



The adult male has the head and ear-coverts black ; back and 

 rump orange-brown ; wings hair-brown, with dull whitish margins to 

 the coverts and secondaries ; tail-feathers hair-brown, with a narrow 

 white streak to the inner webs of the outer pair ; under parts and 

 sides of the neck bright gamboge-yellow ; bill greyish horn-colour ; 

 legs and feet pale brown. Length 675; wing 37 in. After the 

 autumn moult the bright tints, although perceptible at the bases of 

 the feathers, are obscured by the new dull brown edges. The female 

 is sandy-brown on the upper parts, with darker striations on the head 

 and back, and buffish-white margins to the wing-coverts and quills ; 

 rump slightly tinged with yellow ; tail-feathers hair-brown with paler 

 margins ; throat and belly dull white ; breast and flanks sandy-buff 

 with narrow brown streaks ; under tail-coverts pale yellow. The 

 young resemble the female. 



