228 



BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



Subfamily EMBEEIZIN^. 



FRINGILLARIA SAHAEvE (Levaillant, junr.). 

 HOUSE-BUNTING. 



Emberiza saharae, Levaill. jr. Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. pi. 9 bis, fig. 2 (1850) ; 



Whilal-er, Ibis, 1894, p. 92. 

 Fringillaria saharae, Tristr. Ibis, 1859, p. 295 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds 



Brit. Mus. xii, p. 563; Locke, Exjd. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 182 (1867); 



Koenig, J. f. 0. 1893, p. 53 ; Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1899, p. 459. 

 Emberiza sahari, Malhcrbc, Fmitie Orn. de I'Alg. p. 21 (1855) ; 



Koenig, J.f. 0. 1888, p. 232. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Gafsa, South Tunisia. 



Head, throat, upper breast and nape pale bluish-grey, striped with black, 

 more conspicuously on the crown and less so on the other parts ; super- 

 ciliaries white ; back and rump dull cinnamon, slightly striped on the back 

 with dark brown ; wings and tail-feathers blackish-brown, the former 

 slightly and the latter broadly margined with cinnamon ; the lesser wing- 

 coverts brighter cinnamon ; breast and rest of underparts light cinnamon. 



Iris very dark brown ; upper mandible brown, lower one yellow ; feet 

 light yellowish-brown. 



Total length 5-50 inches, wing 3, culmen -40, tarsus -65. 



Adult female resembles the male to a certain extent, but the head and 

 nape are pale sandy-brown instead of bluish-grey, and the rest of the 

 plumage is duller. 



Soft parts and measurements almost the same as in the male. 



This soberly attired, but highly interesting and attractive little 

 bird is one of a group which seems to form a connecting link between 

 the true Buntings and the Finches, partaking of the characters of 

 both genera, resembling more the former in some respects, and the 

 latter in others. I am therefore inclined to follow some other 

 ornithologists and refer this species to the genus Fringillaria (Swain- 

 son, Classification of Birds, ii, p. 290, 1837), which should no doubt 

 also include some of the other Buntings, such as F. striolata and 

 F. ccesia. These two last named .species are both included by Loche 

 among the birds of Algeria, but there appears to be no record 6i the 

 occurrence of either within or near the borders of the Eegencj'. 



The present species is apparently peculiar to North-west Africa, 

 and has only been recorded from the more southern districts of 

 Tunisia, Algeria and Marocco. Somewhat to my surprise, Mr. Dodson 

 brought no specimens from Tripoli, when collecting for me in that 



