368 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 



russet- or reddish -brown in their ground, covered with spots 

 and blotches rather than with streaks, after the fashion of those 

 of the Ortolan. While the Ortolan prefers the olive-yards and 

 gardens, E. ccesia confines itself to the bare hill-sides and the 

 scrub, or to the rocky wadys. 



Emberiza cia, certainly not a Meac^ow-Buntiag in Palestine, 

 we found only on the tops of the hills and in the highest parts 

 of Lebanon, both in summer and winter. Unlike the others, it 

 does not seem to migrate. We several times found its nest 

 among rocks in Lebanon towards the end of June. The eggs are 

 clay-coloured, covered with fine lines chiefly round the broad 

 end, very distinct from any other Bunting^s I ever saw, and 

 certainly different from the varieties of the Yellow- Am mer^s, 

 which do duty for the eggs of this bird in most collections. 

 Its note is very Uke that of the Yellow-Ammer, but more lu- 

 gubrious and long-drawn, uttered generally from the top of a 

 flat rock, its favourite perch. 



The so-called Black-headed Bunting, Euspiza melanocephala, 

 has nothing in its habits and appearance to recal the true Em- 

 herizince. It is a very common and conspicuous bird in spring 

 and summer. I was in error in stating (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 446) 

 that it returns in April. On reference to my note-book I find I 

 did not observe it before the first week in May; and its plumage 

 is too brilliant for it easily to escape notice. Its note is varied 

 and powerful, more like aLinnet^s than a Bunting's; and it resorts 

 both to scrub, forests, and cultivated ground, affecting particu- 

 larly olive-yards and, in the north, apricot-orchards, where it sits 

 pouring forth its varied song from the topmost twig of some tall 

 tree. The nest is placed either on the ground in a tuft, or in a 

 low bush, sometimes in the clump at the root of a shrub. The 

 nest is more compact than that of most Buntings, lined with 

 fibres of roots and hair; and the eggs, often six in number, are 

 of a pale blue, powdered all over their surface, sometimes 

 thickly, sometimes sparsely, with brown spots. It is strange to 

 find Brehm quoted as stating its egg to be like those of other 

 Buntings. We may observe that its American congener, Euspiza 

 americana, lays a plain blue egg. Everything I have observed 

 in E. melanocephala disposes me to believe that Bonaparte is 



