THE PINE-BUNTING. 113 



FOOD. Chiefly vegetable : corn, and seeds of weeds, wild-fruits, 

 etc. ; also insects (coleoptera, lepidoptera and larvae) and spiders. 



DISTRIBUTION. British Isles. Resident. Common and generally 

 distributed, but does not nest in some O. Hebrides, now common 

 Orkneys, but seldom noticed Shetlands except on migration ; occurs 

 Fair Isle both passages, but chiefly autumn. 



MIGRATIONS. British Isles. Flocks in winter, but little evidence 

 that our breeding-birds emigrate. Immigrants from north appear 

 east coasts Great Britain in Oct. and Nov. and return in spring. 



DISTRIBUTION. Abroad. Europe generally from about lat. 65J 

 to 70 N., but in south Spain and south Italy only in winter, and 

 absent from Greece. Replaced by allied forms in Siberia and east 

 Europe. Local races require further study (see Gengler, Orn. 

 Jahrb., 1912, pp. 88-92). 



EMBERIZA LEUCOCEPHALA 



44. Emberiza leucocephala S. G. Gm. THE PINE-BUNTING. 



EMBERIZA LEUCOCEPHALOS S. G. Gmelin, Nov. Comm. Acad. Sci. Imp. 

 Petropol., xv, p. 480, pi. 23, fig. 3 (1771 Astrakhan). 

 Emberiza leucocephala W. Eagle Clarke, Scot. Nat., 1912, p. 8 ; cf. Brit. B., 

 v, p. 239. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 5). Adult male. Winter. Fore-head and sides 

 of crown black, much obscured by buffish-brown fringes and tips ; 

 centre of crown white, more or less obscured by brown and black tips ; 

 back of neck almost uniform greyish-brown ; mantle and scapulars 

 streaked black with chestnut markings and yellowish-brown edgings ; 

 rump chestnut tipped buff ; upper tail-coverts same but with white 

 tips and black shaft-lines ; narrow Line under eye and in centre 

 of lores buffish-white ; ear-coverts same margined at base of neck 

 with line of blackish-brown ; lores and continuing in broad stripe 

 round and behind eyes to base of neck, chin, and upper-throat 

 extending to sides of neck chestnut, more or less obscured by tips of 

 buff with small black spots ; below chestnut of throat white band,* 

 obscured by similar tips ; upper-breast chestnut with long buffish- 

 white tips ; flanks same, but streaked black mesially ; centre of 

 breast, belly, and vent pure white ; under tail-coverts white 

 with dark brown shaft-streaks ; axillaries white with dusky 

 centres and often with slight yellowish tinge ; tail brown -black, 

 central pair fringed chestnut- brown, outer pair with some 

 white on outer web and large white wedge covering most 

 of inner web, penultimate pair with smaller white wedge on 

 distal half of inner web ; primaries and secondaries black - 



* Exceptionally throat is white or yellowish-white, and centre of crown 

 tinged pale yellow. This species appears to hybridize with E. citrinella in 

 west Siberia (Journ. f. Orn., 1903, p. 145, pi. vii). 



I 



