212 REED-BUNTING. 



eastern Siberia, Mongolia and China are inhabited by a smaller 

 race, with the black and white colours intensified, which has been 

 called E. passerina. In Southern Spain, Southern Italy and Sicily, 

 we find a resident form with a larger bill, which has received the 

 name of E. pahistris; while further east, from Astrachan to Turkes- 

 tan and Yarkand, a bird with a still larger bill, and also paler in 

 colour, is distinguished as E. py7'rhuldidcs. Few authors agree as to 

 the nomenclature of these supposed species, or where the lines of 

 distinction between them are to be drawn ; nevertheless Mr. R. B. 

 Sharpe (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xii. p. 473) has placed the two last 

 with a Japanese form in a separate genus, Pyrrhulorhyiicha, which 

 Professor Giglioli invented as long ago as 1865, and fondly hoped 

 was forgotten! 



The nest, commenced in the latter part of April, is usually placed 

 upon the ground, at the foot of a tuft of rushes or of the stems of 

 young willows and shrubs ; frequently in herbage on the side of 

 a bank ; occasionally it has been found on young spruce-firs or 

 on bunches of reeds, at varying elevations. The materials employed 

 are dry grass, moss and withered flags for the exterior, with bents, 

 hair and the feathery tops of reeds for the lining. The eggs, 4-6 in 

 number, are purplish-grey — sometimes with a buffish tinge — boldly 

 spotted and streaked with darker purple-brown : average measure- 

 ments '77 by '59 in. Two, and occasionally three broods are reared 

 in the season. The hen sits very close, and both she and the male 

 feign lameness and practise other devices to divert attention from 

 the brood. In summer the food consists of insects, such as cater- 

 pillars and small white moths, also of small fresh-water crustaceans 

 and molluscs ; later in the year seeds and grain are consumed. The 

 song of the male is loud and stammering, ending with a long-drawn 

 zississ ; the call-note resembles the word tschec. 



The adult male has the head and throat deep black ; from the 

 base of the bill a moustache-like white line connects the collar and 

 breast of the same colour ; mantle, wing-coverts and secondaries 

 warm reddish-brown, with dark centres to the feathers ; quills dull 

 brown ; tail-feathers blackish, with oblique white patches on the two 

 outer pairs ; flanks dusky, streaked with brown ; bill and legs dull 

 brown. Length nearly 6 in. ; wing 3 in. In autumn the black on 

 the head and throat is obscured by the buffish-brown tips of the 

 feathers. The female is rather smaller and much duller in colour, 

 and has a reddish-brown head with darker streaks, while the eye- 

 stripe is bufiish-white. The young resemble the female. 



