ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAR. 279 



I suppose, the ground of the cap, napa and extreme upper 

 back has a strong greyish olive tinge, and these mostly show- 

 no supercilium. 



One female, I suppose a perfectly mature or perhaps very 

 old bird (it is the only one out of about 40, and I sexed it my- 

 self), has the entire cap, &c., including sides of the neck, as 

 green as in many males, but the crown and nape are well 

 striated ; there is no trace of a supercilium ; the upper 

 throat is mottled with the greyish green of the crown, 

 and the breast is entirely of this colour, only mottled with 

 yellow here and there ; the throat stripes in this case of this 

 same dusky greyish green are only dimly traceable. 



But that there is no dusky round the base of the bill, and 

 that I sexed it myself, I should certainly have set this down 

 as a not quite mature male. 



I have tried, after a careful study of over 100 sexed speci- 

 mens, to give an idea of the changes and variations of 

 plumage in this species, but it must not be forgotten that all 

 my specimens were obtained between the middle of Novem- 

 ber and the middle of April, 



I shot this species myself in several places in Central Sylhet 

 and all across Cachar (a pair in the station of Silchar itself), 

 and I have it from N.-E. Cachar, and Godwin- Austen says it 

 was common in the marshes between Bholaganj and Chatak 

 (North Sylhet), and we may assume that in the cold season 

 it is generally distributed over both these districts, but as 

 regards Assam, hills and valleys, all I know is that I have 

 received specimens from Joonkotollee in the Dibrugarh district. 



[This cold weather visitant is pretty common, if hunted 

 for, in the Dibrugarh district. They frequent grassy, reedy, 

 and scrubby jungle amongst paddy fields and around villages. 

 I have noticed them in pairs and small parties of from four to 

 six individuals. 



Legs and feet fleshy ; irides brown ; bill fleshy below, dusky 

 abov^. Theirfoodconsistsof paddy andhardseedsofkinds.-J. R C] 



This species does not, that I am aware of, extend to any part 

 of British Burmah. 



719 — Emberiza fucata, Pall. 



We first came upon this species in the Kopum Thall, where 

 it was, with E. pusilla, very common about the grass and rice 



