observed in the Vicinity of Wei Ilui JVei. GG9 



In the summer months the hirds are always scattered over 

 the countryside in pairs, and shew no tendency to become 

 gregarious even at the autumn migration. 



In hahits this species seems to much resemble our Yellow 

 Buntings {E . citi'ineUa) ; the male has the same habit of 

 sitting on the top of a small bush and repeating, ac?waw5eam, 

 his plaintive little song, which, as Rickett very truly says, 

 closely resembles that of our Emberiza citrinella, without 

 the final note. 



The breeding-season commences in May, and the nest is 

 placed, in Wei Hai Wei, under a tuft of grass beneath a 

 small rock or at the foot of a bush or little tree. The long 

 grass which always clothes the graves in a Chinese cemetery 

 is a favourite situation. As a rule, the nests are lined 

 with horse-hair alone or with a mixture of horse-hair and 

 fine grasses. 



In Fokien Rickett and La Touche found this species 

 nesting in small trees, a few feet from the ground, a 

 situation which, so far as is known, it never selects in 

 Shantung. 



The eggs vary from three to six in number, but four or 

 five form the usual clutch. 



The earliest date for fresh eggs is May 13th and the latest 

 June 8th, but the birds often sit much later than this, for 

 on July 24th, 1907, a cock bird was noticed singing, in the 

 manner which indicates a hen sitting somewhere in the 

 vicinity, and, no doubt, Rickett is right in supposing this 

 species to be double -brooded. 



The eggs have been described by Mr. La Touche (' Ibis,' 

 1906, p. 633), but as they present considerable variation, the 

 following remarks upon them may not be out of place : — 



Almost all the eggs have a creamy ground-colour, inclining 

 in some specimens to a purplish brown, but there occur a 

 few in which the ground-colour is clear bluish white, and of 

 such only three were obtained. The eggs of a clutch some- 

 times vary inter se, and I obtained one of three in which two 

 are normal and one is of the bluish-Avhite variety. The 

 wreath of hair-like sepia-colourcd markings mentioned by 



