254 FRINGILLID&. 
Genus MELOPHUS, Swazns. 
Melophus melanicterus ((mel.). 
(Plate XIT. figs. 1 & 4.) 
Melophus melanicterus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xii. p. 568 (1888); 
Oates, Fauna Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 265 (1890); zd., ed. Hume, 
Nests & Eggs Ind. Birds, ii. p. 173 (1890); La Touche, Ibis, 1900, 
p- 88; Sharpe, Hand-l. v. p. 286 (1909). 
Eggs of the Crested Black Bunting are of a broad blunt oval form 
and have a moderate amount of gloss. The ground-colour is pale 
greenish-white in some, pinkish-white in others, and they are 
thickly speckled, streaked and mottled with dull reddish-brown 
and underlying lavender-grey. The markings are everywhere 
dense, but especially at the larger end of the egg, where they 
coalesce so as to form a more or less irregular and ill-defined cap. 
They measure from °7 to ‘9 in length, and from -6 to ‘69 in 
breadth. 
2. Himalaya, 27th June (Nekrkorn Crowley Bequest. 
Coll.). 
2. Almora, Himalaya, 16th May. Hume Coll. & Crowley 
Bequest. 
15, Sikhim (J. Gammie). Hume Coll. 
2. Hansi, Punjab, Aug. Hume Coll. 
2. Jhansi, N.W. Provs., July (7. R. Hume Coll. 
Blewittt). 
6. Saugor, Central Provs., 25th Hume Coll. 
July. 
3. Saugor, 28th July. Hume Coll. 
2. Saugor, 5th Aug. Hume Coll. 
2. Saugor, 5th Aug. Hume Coll. 
1. Kuatun, Fohkem, China, 17th C. B. Rickett, Esq. [P.]. 
May. 
4, Kuatun, 18th May. J. D. La Touche, Esq. [C.]. 
Genus PLECTROPHENAX, Stejneger. 
Plectrophenax nivalis (Linn.). 
Emberiza nivalis, Thien. Fortpflanz. ges. Vog. p. 373, tab. xxxiil. 
fig. 11, a-e (1845-54); Markham, Whaling Cruise Baff. Bay, p. 285 
(1875); Seebohm, Brit. Birds, ii. p. 125, pl. 15 (1884) ; 2d., Logs of 
Brit. Birds, p. 247, pl. 57. figs. 9 & 10 (1896). 
Plectrophanes nivalis, Baedeker, Fier Eur. Vog. tab. 3. fig. 1 (1855-63) ; 
Hewitson, Eggs of Brit. Birds, i. p. 184, pl. xlvi. fig. 11 (1856) ; 
Dresser, Birds Eur. iv. p. 261 (1878); Bard, Brewer §& Ridgw. N. 
Amer. Birds, i. p. 512 (1874); Fetlden, Ibis, 1877, p. 404; 2d. im 
Nares’s Narr. Voy. Polar Sea, ii. p. 209 (1878) ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1878, 
p. 840; Rey, Ever Vog. Mitteleurop. p. 300, pl. 38. figs. 17-21 
(1900); Dresser, Man. Pal. Birds, pt. i. p. 874 (1902); Newton, 
Ootheca Wolleyana, pt. ii. p. 443 (1902). 

