294^ Canon Tristram on Emberiza cioides. 



that Pallas had never seen the true E. cia, for his description 

 of the present bird, "found about the Yen-esay and Daouria/^ 

 is unmistakable and most accurate, and he concludes by 

 the note " Auctorum description es omnes prseter brevem 

 Linneeanam, ita vitiosje, ut segre in iis Ciam nostram ag- 

 noscas/^ a remark which we must thoroughly endorse. After 

 Brandt^s definition of Emberiza cioides had been published, 

 in IS^S, Temminck and Schlegel identified it with a Japanese 

 species, which they figured (Faun. Jap. pi. 58) under the 

 same name. Bonaparte first detected the mistake, and 

 in 1850 described the Japanese bird as E. ciopsis (Consp. i. 

 p. 466), though it is difficult to understand how, with speci- 

 mens before him, he could make the remark, " Ab E. cia ex 

 Europ. vix distincta,'' the diff'erences, especially the chestnut 

 head without any white striations, being marked and con- 

 stant. E. cioides appears to have a somewhat limited range. 

 It has never been recorded from Japan, it is common about 

 Lake Baikal, and was found abundant by Mr, Seebohm at 

 Krasnoyarsk. The Chinese form of this species has been 

 separated by several writers under the name of E. castanei- 

 ccps, Moore (P. Z. S. 1855, p. 215); but with a good series 

 before me, both from Siberia and China, I find it difficult to 

 admit a specific distinction which consists only in size, as 

 though Siberian specimens are certainly longer in the wing 

 than Chinese, the longest-winged specimen from China 

 exceeds the shortest-winged from Siberia. The absence of 

 the tiny black spot on the chin, relied on by Mr. Sharpe 

 (Cat. vol. xii. p. 544), is not a reliable distinction, as I pos- 

 sess Chinese specimens with it and Siberian ones without it ; 

 but the former appear always to have a less amount of white 

 on the outer tail-feathers than the northern form. 



No figure has ever been published of E. cioides, which 

 appears to me to have a claim to be thus illustrated, especially 

 as I presume it will now be inserted in the British lists. I 

 have therefore the pleasure of adding to this note a portrait 

 by Mr. Keulemans of an adult male of this species (Plate X.), 

 from a specimen in Mr. Seebohm's collection, obtained at 

 Krasnoyarsk on Feb. 25th, 1878. 



