EMBERIZA. 257 



794. Emberiza stracheyi. The Eastern Meadow-Bunting. 



Euspizi cia (Linn.), apud Blyth, Cat. p. 130. 



Emberiza stracheyi, Moore, P. Z. 8. 1855, p. 215, pi. 112 ; Ilorsf. 8f 



M. Cat. ii, p. 483 ; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 372; Hume, Cat. no. 714; 



Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 79 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 574; Sharpe, 



Cat. B. M. xii, p. 539 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, 



p. 1(58. 

 Emberiza cia, Linn, apud Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 371 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. 



xxxvii, pt. ii, p. 57 ; Hume § Ilenders. Lah. to Yark. p. 250. 

 Citrinella cia (Linn.), Hume, N. 8f E. p. 4G1. 



Coloration. Male. After the autumn moult a longitudinal broad 

 coronal band from the bill to the nape is bluish grey with a few 

 black streaks ; a broad lateral band on each side of the crown black 

 with rufous tips, succeeded by a distinct pale fulvous eyebrow reach- 

 ing from the nostrils to the nape ; lores and band through the eye 

 black ; cheeks aud ear-coverts pale fulvous ; a narrow black mou- 

 stachial streak passing under and behind the ear-coverts and joining 

 the eye-band ; back and scapulars chestnut-brown, streaked with 

 black ; lesser wing-coverts bluish grey ; median and greater coverts, 

 secondaries and tertiaries black, broadly margined with chestnut- 

 brown ; primaries brown, narrowly edged with rufous ; rump chest- 

 nut with paler edges ; upper tail-coverts chestnut-brown, with 

 black shaft-streaks ; middle pair of tail-feathers black, broadly edged 

 with chestnut-brown, the next two pairs entirely black, with narrow 

 pale margins ; the next pair black with a white tip ; the outer two 

 pairs white on the terminal half with black shafts ; chin whitish ; 

 throat aud breast bluish grey, each feather with an indistinct 

 triangular brownish tip ; remainder of lower plumage and the sides 

 of the neck plain chestnut-brown. 



In the spring the tips and margins of the feathers become 

 abraded, and the mesial coronal band becomes pure bluish grey ; the 

 lateral bands, the eye-band, and the moustachial streak deep black ; 

 the eyebrows, cheeks, and ear-coverts pure white; the throat and 

 breast lose all traces of the triangular tips to the feathers. 



Female. Resembles the male in every respect, but is perhaps a 

 little paler ; undergoes the same seasonal change of colour. 



The young bird is rufous-brown above, every where densely 

 streaked with black, and the lower plumage is pale rufous, 

 deepening on the abdomen and densely streaked with black on the 

 throat, breast, and sides of the body. 



Bill dark plumbeous above, light plumbeous below ; iris dark 

 brown ; legs and feet fleshy yellow (Hume). 



Length 6*5 ; tail 3*1 ; wing 3-2 ; tarsus *7 ; bill from gape •o. 



This Bunting may be looked upon as a race of E. cia of Europe. 

 E. cia differs in wanting the pure black and white marks on the 

 head which are so conspicuous in E. stracheyi, the white in E. cia 

 being always tinged with grey and the black obscured by rufous 

 tints. In E. cia the median and greater wing-coverts are tipped 

 with a more or less pure white, whereas in the Indian bird the 



VOL. II. s 



