528 EMBERIZHXE. 



Fields by a London bird-catcher. Dr. Latham describes 

 a Green-headed Bunting in the collection of Marmaduke 

 Tunstal, Esq., in the third volume of his Synopsis, page 

 211, No. 61. From these sources a description of this bird 

 was copied by Gmelin, Lewin, Montagu, and others. La- 

 tham and Montagu both express their doubts of its being 

 a distinct species, no other instances appearing to be re- 

 corded than those before mentioned. To the Synopsis of 

 the Newcastle Museum, by George T. Fox, Esq., F.L.S., 

 we are indebted for much valuable information on various 

 zoological subjects, and some particulars of the Green - 

 headed Bunting. From this gentleman's statement, we 

 learn that the specimen of the Green -headed Bunting 

 figured by Brown, while it was alive in the possession of 

 Mr. Moon, passed, when dead, into the possession of Mr. 

 Tunstal, and was preserved for his collection ; the same 

 specimen had therefore furnished the materials for each of 

 the authors before enumerated. By the kindness and in- 

 fluence of Mr. Fox, this specimen was, a few years ago, 

 sent up from Newcastle, and exhibited at a meeting of 

 the Linnean Society, and at the Zoological Club ; and no 

 doubt remained in the minds of the members who were 

 conversant with birds, that the Green-headed Bunting was 

 only a variety of the Ortolan Bunting, the plumage having 

 become darker, the colours more intense, a change fre- 

 quently produced by artificial food and long confinement, 

 Mr. Selby, who has had opportunities of comparing the 

 specimen in the Newcastle Museum with examples of the 

 true Ortolan Bunting, has recorded his opinion to the same 

 effect. From Mr. Fox we also learn that the Wycliffe 

 collection, which came under his inspection, contained a 

 specimen of the Ortolan Bunting. Mr. Bewick, in the last 

 edition of his beautiful work on British Birds, and in the 

 Supplement to a previous edition, has given a figure and 



