116 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



yellow ; face black, as also a row of spots separating 

 the moustachial streak from the throat, and a spot on 

 the chin ; throat sulphur yellow finely streaked with 

 dusky ; remainder of body below clear yellow, yellowish- 

 brown with dusky shaft-streaks at the sides ; beak 

 brownish-grey, lower mandible reddish at base ; feet 

 reddish-brown ; irides brown. Female browner and 

 less streaked, with less white on the tail ; head and 

 neck less green, the sides of crown somewhat reddish ; 

 lores and a well-defined eyebrow-stripe dull yellow ; 

 ear-coverts brown with yellow shaft-lines ; under parts 

 yellow, throat and chest with an olive wash and 

 triangular dusky spots ; breast and abdomen brighter ; 

 browner and streaked with black on flanks. Habitat, 

 Japan and China. 



Seebohm (The Ibis, 1893, p. 50) describes a male 

 killed in the Loo-Choo Islands on April 4 as having the 

 irides light yellow ; legs flesh colour ; upper mandible 

 brownish-black, with a light grev base ; lower brownish, 

 with a brownish-yellow base. This would seem to prove 

 Russ' description of the soft parts (from which I quoted 

 above) incorrect, but there is a good deal of seasonal 

 change in the colouring in Buntings as with many other 

 birds. 



According to Youy (Proc. United States Nat. Mus., 

 1883, p. 298) this Bunting breeds abundantly on Fuji- 

 yama. The nest is placed on the ground or in a tussock 

 of grass, and is made of dried grass, lined with fine 

 roots and horsehair. Seebohm (" Birds of the Japanese 

 Empire," p. 136) describes the eggs as resembling richly 

 marked samples of those of the Ortolan Bunting. 



Russ says that in 1875 he received a male of this 

 species with other Japanese birds from Jamrach, which 

 after its death he presented to the Zoological Museum of 

 Berlin ; he does not know whether other examples have 

 been imported. Being a common Japanese bird, there 

 can be little doubt of it, I should think. 



BONAPARTE'S BUNTING (Ember iza ciopsis). 

 Above bright chestnut ; mantle and upper back 

 streaked with black, remainder of body above uniform 

 chestnut ; but the forehead and nape somewhat ashy ; 

 lesser wing-coverts slate grey; median and greater 

 coverts chestnut, black at base and fulvous at tips ; 

 flights dusky brown with pale edges, the secondaries, 

 however, with the edges bright chestnut; central tail- 

 feathers' similar ; remaining feathers blackish with 

 brown outer fringes ; penultimate feather white-edged 

 and with a large white patch near end of inner web ; 

 outermost feather mostly white : a broad white eyebrow - 

 stripe from base of beak to nape, a second broad white 

 stripe below the eye ; sides of head otherwise black ; 

 sides of neck blue-grey, whitish behind the ear -coverts ; 

 throat white ; remainder of body below more or less 

 cinnamon ; a black collar at back of throat ; breast, 

 flanks and under tail-coverts paler than throat, and 

 abdomen buffish ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 white ; flights below dusky, ashy along inner web ; 

 beak bluish horn-colour : feet brownish flesh-colour ; 

 irides dark hazel. Female paler and browner above 

 with broader streaks on mantle and back ; crown ashy 

 in centre ; ear-coverts chestnut instead of black ; cheek- 

 stripe duller black ; under parts paler, the throat 

 whitish. Habitat. Japan. 



According to Seebohm this is the commonest of the 

 Japanese Buntings. Jouy (Proc. United States Nat. 

 Mus,, 1883, p. 298) states that it breeds in great 

 abundance on Fuji-yama, making a nest on or near 

 the ground of dried grass and leaves, lined with fine 

 rootlets. Seebohm ("Birds of the Japanese Empire," 

 p. 132) says: "Eggs in the Pryer . collection closely 

 resemble those of Emberiza da and those of Emberiza 



cioides, being scrawled all over the larger end with fine 

 hair-like streaks." 



This bird was purchased for the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1891, and doubtless must have been im- 

 ported occasionally in consignments of Japanese birds ; 

 but Russ does little more than indicate the species in 

 his big work. 



WHITE-CROWNED OR PINE BUNTING (Emberiza 

 leucocephala). 



" Top of the head white in the male, greyish in the 

 female ; upper parts rufesoent brown, with central dark 

 brown streaks, nearly wanting on the back of the neck ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts cinnamon-rufous, edged with 

 pale brownish ; wings and tail dusky brown, edged yel- 

 lowish, and the two outer tail-feathers with a patch of 

 white on the inner web, largest on the outer feathers ; 

 beneath the chin, throat, and a moustachial line are dark 

 rufous, with pale edgings, and there is a triangular 

 patch of -white on the middle of the throat ; ear-coverts 

 pale brown ; breast and sides of abdomen rufous, with 

 pale edgings, and the middle of abdomen, of vent, and 

 the lower tail-coverts white, with a few streaks. Length 

 6in. to 6^in." Jerdon. Habitat, Siberia, extending 

 eastward to the N.W. Himalayas in winter ; occurs at 

 Peking, and is accidental in Europe and Japan.* 

 Severtzow says (The Ibis, 1883, p. 60) : " A specimen of 

 the Pine-Bunting wa-s obtained out of a small flock in the 

 Kysil-art gorge, which had lost its way, in October." 

 "" Pine-Bunting " is the name by which this species is 

 known on the Continent, and Seebohm also uses it 

 (The Ibis, 1889, p. 295). 



This Bunting has hybridised with E. citrinella 

 (cf. Mem. Acad. Imp. Scl., St. Petersb., ser. 7, XXXV., 

 p. 5). One would think the hybrids must closely re- 

 semble E. citrinella molessoni (cf. The Ibis, 1901, 

 PI. X.): Mr. H. L. Popham, in the article on "The 

 Birds of the Yenisei River, which accompanies this 

 plate, observes of E. leucocephala: "On this visit I 

 was successful in procuring specimens of the Pine-Bunt- 

 ing at Yeniseisk, and in finding one nest, which was 

 well concealed under dead grass in the midst of a thick 

 clump of small bushes ; it was composed of dry grass, 

 lined with horse-hair, and contained four eggs on the 

 point of hatching. The song is similar to that of E. 

 citrinella." 



Capt. H. A. Walton says (The Ibis, 1903, p. 28) in 

 a paper on " The Birds of Peking : " I saw a few small 

 flocks of the Pine-Bunting, and shot some specimens, 

 during very severe weather, at the end of February." 



The habits of this Bunting are said closely to re- 

 semble those of the Yellowhammer ; the nest is found 

 at the edge of a wood or thicket, always in an open 

 spot, on the earth, in a little depression under a shrub, 

 the trunk of a tree, on fallen branches, or under a 

 piece of bark ; externally it is usually formed of coarse 

 dead weeds, and internally is neatly lined with fine 

 prass and horsehair. Four to six eggs are laid towards 

 the end of May, which closely resemble those of the 

 Yellowhammer, but are sometimes * more variegated. 

 While the female incubates, the male sits near by on a 

 dry branch, and sings in a similar manner, but perhaps 

 a trifle more harshly than the above-mentioned species. 

 The female goes to nest a second time about the middle 

 of June. The autumn migration in East Siberia takes 

 place in September and October. The above facts were 

 recorded many years ago by Dybowski, but at greater 

 length. 



According to Russ, this is a familiar cage-bird to 



* cf. Stejneger on Japanese Birds (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. XIV., 

 p. 489). 



