THE YELLOW BUNTING. Ill 



dark greenish ; lores, over and behind eyes, chin and throat bright 

 yellow sparsely streaked dark greenish* ; moustachial stripe (some- 

 times absent) chestnut ; upper-breast olive-green ; lower-breast 

 (especially on sides) and flanks chestnut, tinged yellow and often 

 with black-brown streaks on flanks ; belly and axillaries bright 

 yellow ; vent and under tail-coverts same but streaked chestnut 

 and dark browTi ; tail brown-black, central pair fringed yellowish- or 

 chestnut-broMTi, two outer pairs narrowly fringed greenish-yellow 

 on outer webs, and with large wedge-shaped white marks on distal 

 two-thirds of inner webs ; primaries black-bro\vn, outer webs 

 narrowly fringed greenish - yellow and inner greyish - white ; 

 secondaries same, but with more bro^vnish fringes, and innermost 

 with broad chestnut fringes and tips ; primary-coverts like 

 primaries ; greater coverts like innermost secondaries but often 

 with paler tips ; median coverts tipped chestnut or yellowish- 

 brown, and sometimes yellow ; lesser coverts fringed yellow and 

 chestnut. This plumage is acquired by complete moult from 

 Aug. to Oct. Summer. — ^No moult. Abrasion makes cro\\-n and 

 throat more uniform and paler yellow, upper-parts more strongly 

 streaked, sides of breast and flanks brighter chestnut, greenish- 

 yeUow edges to v^ing-feathers also wear off. 



Adult femule. Winter. — Resembling male but cro^v^l and 

 tlu-oat much less yeUow and more dark green ; breast and flanks 

 reddisli-browTi streaked black-bro\\Ti, not so chestnut as male ; 

 belly paler yellow. Summer. — Abrasion makes plumage rather 

 brighter and more striated. 



Nestling. — Down, smoke-grey, fairl}' long and i^lentiful ; 

 distribution, inner supra-orbital, occipital, humeral, ulnar, spinal, 

 femoral, ventral, and crural. Mouth, inside pink, no spots ; 

 externally, flanges bright pale yellow. 



Juvenile. Male. — Resembling first-winter female but browner 

 and more streaked and less chestnut rump ; paler and duller yellow 

 throat and belly ; with usually blacker, not so bro\vn and much 

 more prominent streaks on breast and flanks ; tips of median and 

 greater coverts paler, and divided centrally by dark brown. Female. 

 — Greyer, not so yellowish on crown, throat and belly as juvenile 

 male. 



First winter and summer. Male. — Closely resembling adult 

 female but yellow brighter, and breast and flanks chestnut, not 

 brown ; as compared with adult male yellow paler, not so deep and 

 brilliant, with more brownish-green and less yellow on crown, 

 ear-coverts, and sides of neck. The juvenile body -feathers, wing- 

 coverts, four imier secondaries and occasionally middle pair of 

 tail-feathers moult in July to Oct., but not primary-coverts nor 

 rest of remiges and rectrices. Female. — Like adult female but 

 crown and nape yellow-brown (not dark green) streaked black- 

 brown, scarcely any pure yellow showing on crown ; throat and 



* Very rarely throat has more or less chestnut (c/. Ibis, 1901, plate x.). 



