THE BUNTINGS 1585 



olive trees are scattered about, are alive with this lovely and melodious bird. It is 

 peculiarly partial to vineyards, where it builds on the vines, pomegranates, thorns, 

 or almond trees. Its nest is always formed of dried straws, and is carefully made 

 and lined with horsehair. Five eggs are the usual complement, and these are pale 

 sea green, covered with scattered dark brown spots, though sometimes quite 

 unspotted. I have received hundreds of nests, and often found them myself, as 

 they are not difficult to discover, the bird not being at all shy, and only leaving the 

 nest when approached within a distance of about a yard. I have often known the 

 female to lay afresh after her eggs have been removed. During the breeding season 

 the male sits near the nest, on a branch or a tree top, and continually serenades his 

 mate with his sweet song. If scared away, even by a shot, it retreats to the nearest 

 tree and continues its song." This bunting much resembles the common species in 

 general habits, often sitting on the top of a bush or low tree, and pouring forth its 

 simple notes, or flying from one elevated part to another with its legs dangling 

 down. The adult male in the breeding time has the crown and sides of the head 

 black, the entire back and scapulars chestnut, the primaries and tail feathers brown, 

 the whole under surface, as well as the sides of the neck, rich canary yellow, and 

 the sides of the breast and flanks chestnut. The female is a dull-plumaged bird by 

 comparison with her brilliant mate, having the upper parts nearly uniform brown, 

 but the under surface yellow, with ashy margins to the breast feathers, and the 

 flanks tinged with ash color. 



This beautiful bunting (E. aureola} is distributed over the northern 

 Yellow- 



. . parts of the Old World from Russia to the Pacific, and has even 

 Breasted 



Bunting strayed as far west as Heligoland, and been captured also in Italy. 

 Dr. Dybowski found this bunting to be one of the commonest birds in 

 Eastern Siberia, where it frequents the valleys, particularly on the plain, and where 

 bushes abound. It generally perches on the top of a plant or bush, and there sings 

 continually, its song being short and often interrupted, but sweet. The peasants 

 look on it as the best songster in Dauria, but that is according to their taste, 

 for there are many other birds there which sing better. These birds arrive on their 

 breeding ground about the middle of May, and commence building their nests early 

 in June, although most of them only begin breeding late in this month. Their 

 nests are placed on the ground and constructed of dry bents, lined with horsehair. 

 The female sits hard, and will permit anyone to approach quite close to her; while, 

 when driven off her eggs, she keeps flying about with the male closely in attendance, 

 perching every now and then on the neighboring bushes, and uttering a note of 

 lamentation like that of the w r hinchat. The eggs of this bunting generally resemble 

 those of the reed bunting, but the ground color is tinged with greenish. In the 

 neighborhood of Archangel the yellow-breasted bunting constantly frequents 

 swampy meadows, or marshes overgrown with birches and willows. The general 

 color of the male is deep chestnut; the forehead, sides of the face, and upper throat 

 being jet black, and the under surface of the body bright yellow, except that the 

 chest is banded by a zone of chestnut. The female is grayish brown, like a hen 

 sparrow, above; the lower parts being pale yellow, striped on the flanks with dark 

 brown. 



