120 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



China, but that it is common in wint«r. I have had it 

 in cages, and it has a rather pleasant chirping song." 



Hume (" Nests and Eggs of Indian l!irds," 2nd edition. 

 Vol. II., pp. 173177) publishes many notes on the nidi- 

 fication of this species, from which 1 quote the summary 

 p' beginning and end, tlu- first dealing H-ith the nest, 

 tiie last with the eggs: — "The Crested Hlack Bunting 

 breeds only sparingly in the plains of India. At Mount 

 Aboo, the loftiest of the Aravallis, it breeds up to an 

 elevation of 4,500 ft. Throughout the Himalayas, 

 from Nepal to Murree, it breeds at all elevations from 

 2,000 to 5,000 or 6,000 ft., and it also nests occasion- 

 ally in the varioiis Dhoons, Terais, and Bhabhurs that 

 skirt the bases of these mountains. In the Himalayas 

 the breeding season extends from April to June. In 

 the plains and on Mount Aboo, June, July, and August 

 appear to be the months in which it lays. 



"The nest is placixl in holes in banks or walls, on 

 the ground under some overhanging clod or rock, or 

 concealed in some thick tuft of grass, and very excep- 

 tionally (I have only .seen one such) in a low thick bush 

 within a few inches o'f tlie ground. The nests vary a 

 good deal. They are often very slight, loosely put 

 together, shallow saucers, composed entirely of fine 

 grass-roots, without any lining; at other times they 

 are neat compact cups, made with grass or grass and 

 moss, and line<l with fine grass, fern and moss-roots, 

 vegetable fibres, or even horsehair. I have seen loose 

 straggling saucers, 6 in. in diameter, and with a 

 deep circular cavity little more than 2 in. across, and 

 nearly as deep as wide. 



" They lay three to four eggs, quite as commonly the 

 latter as the former number ; but I have never seen or 

 heard of more being found. 



" The eggs of this sj>ecies vary a good deal in shape, 

 but typically are rather broad ovals, somewhat obtuse 

 at the small end; specimeps, however, often occur very 

 pointed at this end. The ground-colour is a pale 

 greenish-white in some, and pinkish or brownish white 

 in others; and they are thickly speckled and spotted, 

 and in some more or les^ freckled and mottled, with 

 red, purple, and reddish Or purplish brown, the mark- 

 ings of any one egg being usually unicolorous. They 

 are always most dense atlthe large end, where in the 

 majority of eggs they foriji a more or less conspicuous 

 but ill-defined and irregularly mottled cap ; they have 

 little or no gloss. The markings entirely want the bold 

 jagged line character so characteristic of the eggs of 

 many Buntings. In some eggs the markings are so 

 closely set as to leave scarcely any of the ground-colour 

 visible, and to give the whole egg a reddish-brown or 

 dingy brown mottled appearance, while in a few the 

 small end of the egg is almost entirely devoid of mark- 

 ings. 



"In length these eggs vary from 0.68 to 0.86, and in 

 breadth from 0.5 to 0.76 ; but the average of twenty-two 

 eggs is 0.79 by 0.63 nearly." 



Russ says : — " In the year 1876 Mr. Gaetano Alpi, of 

 Triest, sent me a male, and this mu.st surely have 

 been the firs-t importation of the .species with us, though 

 certiuinly a pair had already reached the Zoological 

 Gardens in London in 1873. After I had laboured in 

 vain to acquire a female, I pas.sed the above-mentioned 

 male over to Councillor von Schlechtendal, whose mag- 

 nificent collection included a considerable number of 

 rare and interesting species in single .specimens. The 

 above-named informed me later respecting the bird as 

 follows: — 'When the Bunting came into my hands I 

 placed it in a very roomy cage which had previously 

 only been occupied by a pair of Sun birds. The latter 

 delightful birds seemed t/> be much excited over their 

 new companion but abstaaned from any hostility, and 



the timorous Bunting never dreamt of attempting any- 

 thing of the kind on his side. Tlie Sun-birds received 

 the usual soft food as well as some poppy seed, and occa- 

 sionally some mealworms. In addition 1 gave him a 

 mixture of rice-flour and crushed egg-bread in a some- 

 what moistened condition. I prefer the latter food to 

 moistened white bread, and give it dn addition, to seeds 

 to all my small Pa.sserine birds. On the Bunting's 

 behalf I added to these different kinds of food several 

 varieties of millet, as well as rice and canary seeds ; he,, 

 however, scorned the latter seeds, and confined himself 

 almost exclusively to the white millet and soft food; 

 he also ate with great gusto the mealworms which were 

 offered to him. The somewhat delicate bird recovered, 

 quickly, and also passe*! through his moult ra}«dly and 

 successfully, so that he soon exhibited himself in his 

 complete characteristic beauty. The graceful crest is 

 depres.sed when the bird is resting or eating, but erected 

 as soon as he begins to move about.' " I do not think I 

 need quote the remainder of his observations, which are 

 not exactly instructive or of general interest. 



L.\RK Bunting (CAondestcs grammica). 



Above pale ashy-brown, feathers of the mantle, upper 

 back ana scapulars with black centres; upper tail- 

 coverts with faint indications of dusky streaks ; lesser 

 wing-coverts blackish, edged with ashy-brown ; mcdiaiu 

 coverts blackish, tipped with white, the inner ones 

 rufescent ; greater coverts blackish edged with browre 

 alid tipped with white; flights blackish brown, with 

 paler margins, those of the secondaries rufescent ; 

 primaries with a pale cinnamon mark at base of outer 

 web ; centre tail-feathers browTi with paler edges ; re- 

 maining feather.s black increasingly tipped with white, 

 the outermost feather being also white along the outer 

 web; crown with a broad whitish central streak passing 

 into ashy-brown on the nape and hounded on each side 

 by a chestnut band %vhich is streaked with black at the 

 sides of the crown ; lores, a broad eyebrow-stripe and 

 centre of eyelid whitish; a black streak from base of 

 beak through the eye to ear- coverts; the latter chest- 

 nut ; a narrow white stripe below- the eye and another 

 encircling the ear-coverts and passing into the white 

 cheeks ; a black interrupted streak from below cheeks 

 bounding the sides of throat; under surface whit*: a 

 few black spot-s on fore-neck; sides, flanks, ,^nd thighs 

 pale ashy-brown, under wing-coverts and axillaries the 

 same ; those near edge of wing with bl.ackiish bases ; 

 flights below dusky with a.shy inner edges ; beak horn- 

 brown, bluish below; feet fleshy whitish; irides brown. 

 The .sexes are said to be aldke, but so far as I can judge, 

 the wings and tail are shorter in the female. Habitat, 

 United States from the eastern edge of the prairies to 

 the Pacific Statea, and southwards to Mexico and 

 Guatemala. 



J. (}. Cooper (" Orn. Calif.," p. 193) observes : — " They 

 reach the Columbia River east of the Cascade Mountains 

 early on May, and breed in this state from nsar San 

 Diego northward in the .sheltered valleys, and at Santa 

 Barbara. I have not found their nests in this State, 

 but have met with many of them fix)m Mis.souri w-est 

 through Kan.sas and Nebra.ska, in May and June. They 

 build on the ground, constructing their nests chiefly of 

 grass; the eggs are white, with scattered hair lines ,and 

 spots of brown near the large end, if I remember 

 rightly." According to Ridgwa.v. this specnes inhabits 

 sparsely wooded districts. 



Russ ob.serves : — " It is extremely rarely imported, yet 

 this will occur more abundantly presently, as it is 

 reckoned as one of the most widely distributed and 

 abundant sriecies of North America. If it ever is 

 abundantly imported it will be from Central, not Njrth 

 -America." 



