168 FBINGILLIDiE. 



markings are a few small, very dark brown, irregularly-shaped 

 spots. Some of them are slightly inclined to be of a short, 

 streaky, or Bunting character; but the majority are ordinary 

 spots. The eggs vary in shape a great deal : some are short, 

 broad, regular ovals ; others elongated, and a good deal pointed 

 towards the small end. The shell is fine, but there is only a mere 

 trace of gloss. 



In length the eggs vary from 0-72 to 0-8, and in breadth from 

 0-57 to 0-61 ; but the average of ten eggs is 0-78 by 0-59, 



794. Emberiza stracheyi, Moore. Tlie Eastern Meadow- 

 Bunting. 



Emb 'riza cia, Linn., Jerd. B. hid. ii, p. 371. 



Citriuella cia {Linn.), Hume, Rowjh Draft N. ^- E. no. 813 (713). 



* Our Meadow-Bunting breeds throughout the Himalayas west of 

 the Ganges, at elevations of from 4000 to 9000 feet. 



Eastward of the Granges I have no note of its occurrence, except 

 as a very exceptional straggler in the lower valleys in the cold 

 season. 



The breeding-season lasts from April to August, but the great 

 majority lay in May and June. The nest is always on the ground, 

 commonly wedged in under some large stone, or inserted between 

 the blocks of the rough stone walls with which the hillsides are 

 terraced, but occasionally placed at the base of some dense tuft of 

 grass or shmibby bush. 



The nest is generally a shallow, loose, but pretty ])erfect cup, 

 from 3 to 4 inches in diameter, externally composed of grass- 

 stems, and lined with finer stems of the same and a few horse- or 

 other animals' hairs or moss-roots. A nest of this species obtained 

 near Kotegurh was a moderate-sized pad of grass, about 5 inches 

 long by about 4 broad, and perhaps 2 inches in thickness. To- 

 wards one end of this was a beautiful little saucer-like cavity, 

 perfectly circular, about 2 inches in diameter and 0-75 in depth, 

 lined first with very fine grass-stems and then again, at the 

 bottom of the cavity, with fine white hairs, but of what animal I 

 am uncertain : they are much too fine for horsehair. 



Four is, I think, the normal number of the eggs ; but I have 

 repeatedly found only three more or less incubated, and occasionally 

 five. 



This species is very common about Simla, and its eggs are almost 

 as plentiful as those of Trochalopte rum llneatum. 



Sir E. C. Buck writes :— " At Daren, near Soraon (in the valley 

 oi' the Sntlej), I found a nest of the Meadow-Bunting on the IGth 

 June. The nest was constructed of straw and dry grass, lined 

 internally with fibres and animal hairs. It measured externally 

 about 4-5 in diameter and 3*5 in height, and the cavity was about 

 2 inches in diameter and nearly the same in depth. It contained 



