TINE BUNTING. 147 



the lower Amoor land much earlier than it does to the Stanowoj 

 Mountains. In the year 1844 it did not appear in the latter, ac- 

 cording to Middendorff's observation, until the 10th. of May. It 

 was met with in the spring of 1855 at the posts of Mai'iniski as 

 early as the 11th. (23rd.) of April, — thus a full month earlier. Herr 

 Maximowicz observed on the same day three individuals on the banks 

 of the Amoor. Two which he killed were males, being in advance of 

 the females, which, according to Pallas, arrive later. On the 2nd. 

 (14th.) of May they had already paired at Dshai, not far from the 

 Mariniski post. From the Upper Amoor we received specimens from 

 Herr Maack from the Lower Schilka on the 10th. (22nd.) and 19th. 

 (31st.) of May." 



The Pine Bunting is a cheerful lively bird, with a note similar to 

 the Reed Bunting, according to Pallas. In its habits it resembles 

 the Peed Bunting. It feeds on insects, and seeds of some of the 

 mountain plants, and probably also on those of the reed and other 

 water plants; in winter on oats, millet, etc. 



The male has the top of the head white, more or less spotted with 

 brown, bordered with black, which is also the colour of the forehead; 

 a band extending from the base of the beak beneath the eyes, a 

 demi-collar round the front of the neck, the centre of the abdomen, 

 the distal half of each lateral tail feather, and under wing and tail 

 coverts, white. Scapularies and upper wing coverts chesnut brown, 

 with longitudinal patches of black; rump russet; tail above dark brown. 

 Primaries dark brown, edged externally with white; tertials dark 

 brown, deeply bordered with russet; cheeks and throat deep chesnut; 

 crop and flanks mottled with same colour of a lighter tint; wings 

 and tail below brown; beak brown above, yellowish beneath; tarsi 

 yellow; iris brown. 



In the female, according to Pallas, the back is "the colour of a 

 Sparrow, with the rump rusty; tail long, slightly forked, the external 

 feathers having each a white wedge-shaped spot descending from their 

 apices." These spots or markings extend from the apex to nearly 

 half the length of the tail, and are common to most of the Buntings. 

 The female also differs from the male in having no rusty about" the 

 throat and cheeks, and the head is simply spotted brown like the 

 back. The throat is white; the breast slightly rusty, spotted with 

 brown; the under parts white; wings like the male. When young in 

 the autumn the female resembles the young male, which has "the 

 throat and upper breast whitish, mottled with rufous, with a few small 

 dark brown markings on the upper edge of the chest." — (Dresser.) 



My figure is from a specimen kindly sent me by Mr. Gould. The 



