REED-BUNTING. 



139 



and ear-coverts are dark brown, each feather margined with reddish brown ; 

 the lores and a stripe over the eye and round the ear-coverts are pale buff ; 

 the back, wings, and tail are similar to those of the male ; the throat is dull 

 white ; the lower throat, breast, and flanks are striped with brown, and a 

 broad brownish-black line passes from the bill down each side of the 

 throat. Males of the year have much less black on the throat, and the 

 stripes on the flanks are much more distinct and the breast also is striped. 

 In all stages of plumage the male may be distinguished from the female by 

 the concealed black bases to the feathers of the head and throat and the white 

 collar. The adult male in winter is not nearly so handsome and conspicuous 

 as he is in summer : the black on his head and throat is almost entirely 

 concealed with broad reddish-brown margins to the feathers ; the white 

 parts are tinged with buff, and the dark parts of the plumage are almost 

 hidden by light margins. These margins abrade or drop off as the spring 

 comes on, leaving the bird in full breeding-plumage. The male Reed- 

 Bunting may be distinguished from every other British Bunting (in fact, 

 from every other European species) by its black head and throat and white 

 moustachial line. The female Reed-Bunting very closely resembles the 

 female Lapland Bunting, but may at once be identified by its much shorter 

 hind claw, the much darker tips of the wing-coverts, and the much purer 

 white on the outside tail-feathers. From the female Rustic Bunting the 

 female Reed-Bunting differs in having the upper tail-coverts less chestnut, 

 the tips of the wing-coverts less distinct, and the outside web of the second 

 tail-feather white instead of brown. The latter character will distinguish 

 both sexes of the two species at all ages, and also the female Reed-Bunting 

 from the female Little Bunting. 



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