EMBERIZA. 253 



with broad rufous edges ; quills dark brown edged with rufous ; 

 lores and round the eye fulvous mottled with ashy ; ear-coverts 

 chestnut; cheeks fulvous, continued as a baud under the ear- 

 coverts ; a moustachial band black, gradually widening and reaching 

 to the lower throat, where it meets the other moustachial streak, 

 thus forming a gorget which on the fore neck is more or less 

 interrupted by fulvous streaks ; chin and throat fulvous ; a band 

 of chestnut across the upper breast; remaining lower plumage 

 pale fulvous, the sides of the breast and of the body streaked with 

 dark brown ; tail dark brown edged with rufous, the penultimate 

 feather with a triangular patch of white at the tip, the outer 

 feather with the outer web almost entirely white and half of the 

 inner, next the shaft, also white. 



In spring the chin, throat, and streaks on the gorget become pure 

 white, the rufous pectoral band becomes broader and brighter by 

 the wearing away of the tips of the feathers which partially overlie 

 the band, and the sides of the body become uniform bright 

 chestnut ; the ashy parts of the head become purer ashy, and the 

 upper plumage in general becomes a richer rufous. The difference 

 between breeding and non-breeding plumage in this species is not 

 very marked or noteworthy. 



Female. Resembles at all seasons the male after the moult ; is 

 perhaps a trifle duller in colour. 



The young bird resembles the female. 



Bill dark fleshy brown, the lower mandible paler ; iris brown ; 

 feet and claws pinkish. 



Length about 6 ; tail 2*7 ; wing 2*8 ; tarsus «8 ; bill from 

 gape '6. 



The Himalayan Buntings of this type differ from the true 

 E. f acuta of Siberia, and from those which visit the Eastern portion 

 of the Empire in having the scapulars and lesser wing-coverts and 

 the whole of the sides of the body uniform chestnut. (Should this 

 form be distinct, it will bear Sharpe's name ~E. arcuata. 



Distribution. A resident species in the whole of the Himalayas 

 from Kashmir to Assam, and a fairly common winter visitor to all 

 parts of the Eastern portion of the Empire from Assam down to 

 about the latitude of Moulmeiu. 



According to Jerdon, this species is spread sparingly through 

 Northern and Central India and it has been found near Calcutta, 

 Jalna in the Deccan, Mhow, (Saugor, and Nagpur. Barnes re- 

 cords it from Neeinuch. There is, however, no specimen of this 

 Bunting from any part of the plains of India proper either in the 

 Hume or Tweeddale collections, nor have I ever seen a specimen 

 from those parts. 



This species, if the same as E. fucata, ranges over the greater 

 part of Northern and Eastern Asia. 



Habits, Sfc. Breeds from G000 to 8000 feet in May, June, and 

 July, constructing a saucer-shaped nest of dry grass on the ground 

 under shelter of a bush or stone. The eggs, four in number, are 

 pale greenish grey speckled all over with dull reddish or purplish 

 brown, and measure about *83 by - 6. 



