126 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



distinction is lost in other subspecies of E. c. cia) ; differs from 

 juvenile E. hortulana by chestnut rump, and from all others in 

 rufous-buff abdomen. 



Field-characters. — Chestnut body, grey head with triple black 

 bands (above, through and below the eye) make it very distinctive. 

 Scrub-clad, stony upland slopes are its natural habitat (H. Lynes). 



Breeding-habits. — ^Xests among stones on barren hillsides, 

 sometimes low do\vn in small bushes or loose stone walls. 

 Nest. — Grasses and bark strips, little moss ; lined fine roots and 

 horsehair. Eggs. — 4-6, ground-colour greyish-white or pale 

 purplish-broAVTi, with wreath of interlacing hair-lines round big 

 end, few spots dark brown and ashy shell-marks. Average of 

 86 eggs, 20.63 x 16 mm. Breeding - season. — - Begins early April : 

 mostly in May or June at high altitudes. Incubation. — ^Period 

 and share of sexes not precisely known. One brood. 



Food. — Seeds (oats, millet, hemp, grasses, etc.), probably also 

 insects. 



Distribution. — England. — Six. Two near Shoreham (Sussex) end 

 Oct., 1902 (R. B. Sharpe, Bull. B.O.C., xiii, p. 38). One seen 

 Faversham (Kent) about Feb. 14, 1905 (C. J. Carroll, lUs, 1905, 

 p. 291). Two Ninfield (Sussex) April 1, 1910 (J. B. Nichols, 

 Brit. B., V, p. 50). Female, Westfield (Sussex), April 6, 1915 {id., 

 op. c, xn, p. 89). 



Distribution, — Abroad. — ^Mediterranean countries generally, north 

 to Rhine valley. Lower Austria and foot of Transylvanian Alps. 

 Replaced by allied forms in north-west Africa and in various parts 

 of Asia. Dr. Le Roi {Orn. Moiiatsber., 1911, pp. 78, 79) has not only 

 separated the north-west African form {E. c. africana), but also 

 two in Europe, i.e., E. cia cia in Lower Austria, Switzerland, 

 Bavaria and Rhine valley, and E. cia barbata Scop, from Krain, 

 Tyrol, Wallis, Spain, Italy, Dalmatia, and south-east Europe. 

 We do not know to which of these two forms (which require con- 

 firmation) the British specimens would belong. 



EMBERIZA CIOIDES 



50. Emberiza cioides castaneiceps Moore — THE EAST 



SIBERIAN MEADOW-BUNTING. 



Embeeiza castaneiceps Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1855, p. 215 



(China). 



Emberiza cioides Brandt, Saunders, p. 215. 



Description (Plate 5). — Adult male. Winter. — Crown and nape 

 dark pink-chestnut, feathers broadly edged brownish-buff ; 

 mantle and scapulars brown-chestnut, edged same and streaked 

 black ; rump and upper tail-coverts chestnut, narrowly tipped 



