456 EMBERIZIDE. 



tab. 30, from a living specimen then in the possession of 

 Mr. Moon in Hyde Park, which was taken in Mary-ha-bonno 

 Fields by a London bird-catcher. Dr. Latham describes 

 a Green-headed Bunting in the collection of Marmaduke 

 Tunstal, Esq. in the third volume of his Synopsis, page 211, 

 No. 61. From these sources a description of this bird was 

 copied by Gmelin, Lewin, Montagu, and others. Latham 

 and Montagu both express their doubts of its being a dis- 

 tinct species, no other instances appearing to be recorded 

 than those before mentioned. To the Synopsis of the New- 

 castle Museum, by George T. Fox, Esq. F.L.S. we are 

 indebted for much valuable information on various zoological 

 subjects, and some particulars of the Green-headed Bunting. 

 From this gentleman's statement, we learn that the specimen 

 of the Green-headed Bunting figured by Brown, while it was 

 alive in the possession of Mr. Moon, passed, when dead, into 

 the possession of Mr. Tunstal, and was preserved for his col- 

 lection ; the same specimen had therefore furnished the ma- 

 terials for each of the authors before enumerated. By the 

 kindness and influence of Mr. Fox, this specimen was a 

 few years ago sent up from Newcastle, and exhibited at a 

 meeting of the Linnean Society, and at the Zoological Club ; 

 and no doubt remained in the minds of the members who 

 were conversant with birds, that the Green-headed Bunting 

 was only a variety of the Ortolon Bunting, the plumage 

 having become darker, the colours more intense, — a change 

 frequently produced by artificial food and long confinement. 

 Mr. Selby, who has had opportunities of comparing the 

 specimen in the Newcastle Museum with examples of the 

 true Ortolan Bunting, has recorded his opinion to the same 

 effect. From Mr. Fox we also learn that the WyclifFe col- 

 lection, w^hich came under his inspection, contained a spe- 

 cimen of the Ortolan Bunting. Mr. Bewick, in the last 

 edition of his beautiful work on British Birds, and in the 



