338 Mr. H, Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. 



hidden in the grass and moss. It contained five eggs. The 

 bird was still close to me ; and I was obliged to leave the nest 

 in order to get far enough from the bird, so as to avoid 

 blowing it to pieces. It seemed a shame to shoot the poor 

 little thing ; but as the five eggs in the nest were the only 

 authentic eggs of this species known to exist, it was abso- 

 lutely necessary for their complete identification. The nest 

 was nothing but a hole made in the dead leaves, moss, and 

 grass, copiously and carefully lined with fine dead grass. 

 The eggs were very handsome, almost exact miniatures of 

 the eggs of the Corn-Bunting. The ground-colour is pale 

 grey, with bold twisted blotches and irregular round spots 

 of very dark grey, and equally large underlying shell-markings 

 of paler grey. They measure f ^ X -f^ of an inch. 



I took the second nest in the forest on the opposite bank 

 of the Koo-ray'-i-ka on the 29th of June, containing three 

 eggs. These egg are somewhat less, measuring f f x |-^ of an 

 inch. The colour is redder, being brown rather than grey, 

 but the markings are similar. The nest was in a similar 

 position, and the behaviour of the bird precisely the same. 

 The third nest I took in lat. 67°, on the 30th of June. The 

 eggs, five in number, were slightly incubated. The markings 

 are similar to those of the eggs in the two preceding nests ; 

 but the ground-colour is browner, being less olive than in the 

 first nest, and less red than in the second. The nest was 

 lined with reindeer-hair. The fourth nest contained six eggs, 

 and was taken a few miles to the north of the preceding, on 

 the 6th of July. The eggs are intermediate in colour between 

 those of the two nests last described. The character of the 

 nest was similar to the last, but more sparingly Hned with 

 reindeer-hair. The tameness of the bird was the same in 

 every instance. 



The Little Bunting was common in the forest from the 

 Arctic circle northwards, and afterwards on the tundra up to 

 lat. 71°; but I did not observe it at Gol-cheek'-a, in lat. 71^°, 

 nor upon the Brek'-off'-sky islands. There are skins of this 

 bird in the St. -Petersburg Museum, collected by Baron May- 

 dell in the Tschuski Land. 



