170 FRINGILLID.'E. 



breadth from 0%58 to 0-68 ; the average of fifty eggs is 0-83 nearly 



bv o-ea *. 



'99. Emberiza melanocephala, 8cop. The BJaclc-hmded 

 Bunthiq. 



Euspiza melanocephala ( Gm.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 378. 

 Euspiza simillinia, Bl., Hume, Roiu/h Draft N. S,- E. no. 72 



I do not at all myself believe that this species breeds within our 

 limits ; but it is still worth while drawing attention to what 

 Jjurgess says. 



He mentions that " the patel, or head-man, of the town of 

 Jintee, near the Kiver Bheema, in the Deccan, assured me that these 

 birds, or some of tliem, remain to breed in the thick babool-copses 

 that clothe the banks of the river near that town ; but I did not 

 observe the nests or eggs. I believe that the greater part migrate 

 much about the same time as the Rose-coloured Pastor " t. 



802. Emberiza striolata (Licht.). The Striolated Bunting. 



Fringillaria stiiulata {Licht.), Hume, JRoiu/h Draft N. Sf E, no. 

 716 his ; id. Cat. no. 720 bis. 



The Striolated Bunting is a permanent resident of, and breeds 



* Emheri-a buchanani, Blyth, has not yet been found breeding within sti-ict 

 Indian limits ; but Lieut. H. E. Barnes makes the followiug note regarding its 

 habits in Afghanistan :—" Is very common, appearing in the plains about 

 Marcli ; but they retire to the hills in May, when / bdicvc they breed, although 

 1 have been unable to verify the fact. But the testes of the males and ovaries 

 of the females are much enlarged at this season. I fouud an empty nest at the 

 foot of a stunted bush, which I believe to belong to this species. 



" This was on the Khojak." 



i' Of tlie nearly allied K. hdcola, Sparrni., Mr. F. R. Blewitt records liaving 

 seen a pair in the neighbourliood of Jliansi on the 25th August, 18G8. Tliese, 

 however, may very probably have only just arrived. This Bunting certainly 

 breeds in Afghanistan. Major Wardlaw Ramsay says: — "I cannot find any 

 account of the nidification of this Bunting, which breeds so plentifully in the 

 Ilariab valley. The first nest found was on the 19th June, and I was somewhat 

 8urpri.«ed that neither nest nor eggs were at all like those of other Buntings. 

 The nest in que.sti(jn was built in a small bush about 2^ feet from the ground , 

 it was cup-sliaped, and composed of dried grass, stalks of plants, slircds of 

 juuiper-bai-k, and lined with a few goat's-hairs. It contained four eggs, of a 

 pule bluisli-wliite colour, finely spotted vvitli purplish stone-colour, the spots 

 becoming larger at the thicker eud. The eggs not having arrived from India, 

 I cannot give their exact dimensions." 



And Dr. Scully, years ago, recorded the following note on the breeding 

 of E. Iiitcota in Tui-kestan : — " At least half-a-dozen nests of this species were 

 seen in May ami June. The nest is usually placed eitlicr in small bushes about 

 a couple of feet above tlie ground, or touching the ground at the edges of corn- 

 fields and sheltered o\er by a snniU slirub. Tlie nest is round, from 4-.^) 

 to .^)-.'> inches in diameter, the side-wall about 1 inch thick, the bottom 1 -.''). 

 Externally it is made of coarse fibres, leaves, and twigs loosely )iul together; 

 but tlic egg-cavity is lined with fine fibres woimd round and round, the eggs 

 commonly lying on a bottom-Uning of lioisehair." 



