BUNTINGS. 



115 



in Burma and southward in the Malay peninsula to 



AU W that Jerdon tells us of the wild life of this 

 Bunting is that " Surinhoe found it in China m flocks, in 

 autumn, feeding on the ripening corn." 



Mr F W Styan, writing on the birds of the Lower 

 Yangtse'Basin (The Ibis, 1891, p. 355) says: "Appears 

 in vast numbers in the middle of April and leaves again 

 in May. They frequent the grassy plains and reed-beds 

 on the marshy banks of the river. A clump of reeds 

 with a hundred or so of these birds perched on them, 

 their brilliant yellow breasts exposed to the sunshine, 

 presents a very curious appearance. I do not think any 

 remain to breed; but early in September flocks of 

 young birds appear and frequent the paddy-fields till 

 the end of October. Adults are much scarcer in the 

 summer. This bird is the 'Rice-bird' of Canton resi- 

 dents, and, when caught in good condition is deservedly 

 considered a luxury." 



Mr. J. D. de la Touch* (The Ibis, 1892, p. 428) 

 remarks that this Bunting is " very abundant at Foochow 

 in the paddy fields during October. I believe that I 

 saw one near Swatow in November." 



Mr. W. Eagle Clarke (The Ibis, 1895, p. 184) speaks 

 of meeting with E. aureola in the Rhone Valley, and in 

 the following year Mr. Bidwell notes that the egg of 

 the Cuckoo has been found in the nest of this species (of 

 which I presume the nidification has been described in 

 Dresser's "Birds of Europe"). 



Mr. H. L. Popham (The Ibis, 1898, p. 503) says: 

 " Yellow-breasted Buntings were very numerous around 

 Yeniseisk, They arrived nearly a fortnight later than 

 the Yellow Buntings, and did not appear to be yet nest- 

 ing when I left Yeniseisk on June 9th. The males were 

 very tame, and sat singing their monotonous song every- 

 where ; but it was not until some days later that I was 

 able to procure a female." 



In 1899 Michael Harms made a collection of birds on 

 the river Dwina. near the confluence of the Sija, in 

 63 37' N. lat. He says of E. aureola : " It inhabits the 

 meadows on the banks of the Dwina, and lias a short 

 melodious song; its nests and eggs were taken." (Cf. 

 The Ibis, 1900, p. 682.) 



Capt. H. A. Walton (The Ibis, 1903) speaks of this 

 bird as " common in the reed-beds up to the beginning 

 of November. After that, it was absent from Peking 

 until the middle of May, from, which time it became 

 plentiful, but only stayed for about a month." 



In The Ibis for 1904, Dr. Hartert has published an 

 illustration of the nest, and he tells us (pp. 442-443) : 

 " Male and female take part in incubation. The male 

 flew off one nest, fluttered about, and trailed his breast 

 upon the ground within three or four yards of us, as if 

 he had a broken wing. The nests are placed in heads 

 of stumps as well as in low thick bushes very near to 

 or upon the ground. The female is exceedingly shy, 

 and will stop in an isolated bush almost until she is 

 driven out. Eggs were fresh on June 18. A nest on 

 the ground in the grass at Yakutsk on June 20 was 

 photographed at 3.30 a.m. We got a third set of eggs 

 on June 25. A further nest containing five hard-set 

 eggs was found 28. vi. 1903, near Yakutsk." Neither 

 nest or eggs are described. t 

 In 1904, Mr. Dresser visited Finland and Russia, and 



* In. 1890 Professor F. E. Blaauw recorded the capture of a 

 specimen at Harderwijk, prov. Gelderland, which was the first 

 specimen obtained in Holland (cf. The Ibis, 1891, p. 151) ; it was 

 deposited in the Gardens at Amsterdam. An example was 

 obtained in Norfolk in 1905. 



t Dr. Russ quotes Taczanowski as giving' a similarly incom- 

 plete account of the nidification of this bird, but he tells us 

 that in June the female lays four to five, rarely six eggs. 



purchased eggs of this species which doubtless he 

 desired for illustration in his work on the eggs of 

 European birds. Of course, a bird so well known as 

 this and one which, as Mr. Finn tells us, is to be 

 obtained in the Calcutta bird market, has more than 

 once appeared at our London Zoological Gardens. Ur. 

 Russ says that it is the most abundantly imported of all 

 the Buntings ; he tells us also that the smaller dealers 

 often obtain it from Russia. In 1877 the dealer Gleitz- 

 mann brought twenty-one (in a large consignment o 

 birds from Moscow) to Berlin in order to forward them 

 to London. The price, he says, varies from nine 1 

 twelve marks (shillings) for a pair. 



RED-BACKED OB RUDDY BUNTING (Emberiza rutila). 

 Above deep chestnut, rump and upper tail-coverts 

 slightly paler; wing-coverts with indications of olive- 

 grey on the fringes at tips ; wing and tail feathers dark 

 brown with pale edges, the inner secondaries chestnut 

 externally ; two outer tail-feathers with a small whitish 

 mark at end of outer web; sides of head, throat and 

 fore-neck chestnut ; rest of body below sulphur yellow, 

 olive-greenish, streaked with blackish at sides ; under 

 wing-coverts and axillaries yellowish white, dusky at 

 base ; flights below dusky with ashv inner margins ; 

 beak brown; feet grey; irides red-brown. Female 

 above brown streaked with black, less distinctly on 

 nape- upper tail-coverts paler, with ashy margins; 

 wing-coverts blackish-brown, edged with greyish-olive 

 and yellowish-white towards tips, wings and tail dark 

 brown with pale borders, margins of secondaries red- 

 dish ; lores, feathers encircling eye and an ill-defined 

 eyebrow buffish ; ear-coverts pale ashv-brown ; a streak 

 of black along the upper margin; cheeks and throat 

 pale ochreous, separated by a black line ; under surface 

 pale sulphur yellow ; a few dusky streaks on the breast ; 

 sides ashy-olivfc broadly streaked with black-brown. 

 Habitat, Eastern Siberia and N. China, possibly Japan ; 

 wintering in South China, Cochin-China, Indo-Burma 

 and S. Eastern Himalayas. 



Mr. F. W. Styan (The Ibis, 1891, p. 355) says that 

 this bird is rather scarce in the Lower Yangtse Basin, 

 "ibut a few pass through in April and May." In the 

 southern Shan States, Lieut.-Col. G. Rippon found it 

 rather common (The Ibis, 1901, p. 546). Capt. H. A. 

 Walton says (The Ibis, 1903, p. 28) that it arrived at 

 Pekin " about the middle of May. It has a single loud 

 call-note." Lieut.-Col. Bingham obtained it in the 

 southern Shan States at from 1,000 to 6,000 ft. eleva- 

 tion (The Ibis, 1903, p. 600). Mr. J. D. D. La Touche 

 (The Ibis, 1906, p. 636), writing on the birds of Chin- 

 kiang, observes that it passes in May and October. 

 " On May 5, 1901, I saw great numbers on the hills." 

 Russ says that the habits and nidification are similar 

 to those of E. pityornis. It reached the London Zoo- 

 logical Gardens in 1873 and 1891. 



MASKED BUNTING (Emberiza personata). 

 Above generally rusty red-brown with 'black streaks ; 

 the feathers of the mantle with paler somewhat ashy 

 markings; lower back and rump olive-brown with indi- 

 cations of dusky centres to the feathers; median and 

 greater coverts dusky, slightly reddish, edged with pale 

 olive-brown and tipped with white ; remainder of wing 

 dusky brown, the feathers with pale edges ; upper tail- 

 coverts and centre tail-feathers pale brown edged with 

 buff, remainder blackish, similarly edged ; the outer- 

 most feather with a large white patch and with base of 

 outer web white ; penultimate feather with a smaller 

 white patch ; head, nape and sides of neck dull grey- 

 green ; middle of head with fine blackish shaft-streaks ; 

 ill-defined eyebrow and broad moustachial stripes 



