272 EMBERIZINJE. 



IX, p. 417 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 188 j 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 129. 



THE RED-HEADED BUNTING. 



Length, 675 to 7 ; wing, 3'5 ; tail, 3 ; bill at front, 0'5. 

 Bill pale fleshy-yellow ; irides brown ; legs brown, 

 The whole head, neck, and breast, rich chesnut ; back and 

 scapulars yellowish or greenish-yellow, with dark-brown striae ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts deep-yellow, faintly streaked ; quills 

 and tail brown ; the coverts and secondaries broadly edged with 

 pale whity brown ; quills and rectrices narrowly edged with the 

 same ; beneath, from the breast, including the sides of the neck, 

 rich yellow. 



The Red-headed Bunting is a not uncommon cold weather 

 visitant to all suitable portions of the Presidency. It is much 

 addicted to frequenting cultivated lands. 



GENUS, Melophus, Sws. 



Bill compressed, with the upper mandible slightly notched 

 near the tip ; wings rather short ; tail even ; hind -claw slightly 

 lengthened ; head with an erectile frontal crest ; otherwise as in 

 Euspiza. 



Melophus melanicterus, Gm. 



724. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 381 ; Butler, Guzerat; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 498 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, 

 Vol. IX, p. 417 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 189 ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 129. 



THE CRESTED BLACK BUNTING. 



Length, 6'5 ; expanse, 10 ; wing, 3'25 ; tail, 275 ; bill at 

 front, 0-5. 



Bill fleshy-brown ; irides dark-brown ; legs red-brown. 



Male. The whole body, with crest, glossy blue-black ; wings 

 and tail dark cinnamon, with dusky tips ; tail-coverts at their 

 base, black and cinnamon. 



The female is dusky-brown above, the feathers edged light olive- 

 brownish ; beneath rufescent- white, or pale brownish-fulvescent 

 with dusky streaks ; quills and tail dull arid paler cinnamon than 

 in the male, dusky internally, and on the central tail-feathers. 

 She is a little smaller, and the crest is not so highly developed. 



The Crested Black Bunting occurs more or less in suitable 

 localities throughout the region ; in many it is a permanent 

 resident breeding during the rains, in banks, under clumps of 

 ferns and grasses. The eggs, three in number, are rather broad 

 ovals in shape, and are of a dull whitish-grey color, with a sprink- 

 ling of light-brown spots ; the markings are always most dense at 

 the larger end, and sometimes the markings are so closely set 

 as to leave little of the ground-color visible. 



They average 79 inches in length by nearly 0'63 in breadth. 



