162 RUSTIC BUNTING. 



long in confinement, rarely more than two years, the moulting being 

 generally the cause of its death. My birds never became domesticated, 

 and flew about alarmed when the cage was approached. They did 

 not sing, only uttering a solitary call-note like the other Buntings, 

 raising up the feathers of the head during its utterance/ " 



"The male in breeding plumage," according to Degland, whose 

 descriptions are always accurate, "has the top of the head black, 

 with a longitudinal band of russet white upon the median line, 

 which terminates at the occiput in a small white spot; nape red 

 russet; back, scapularies, and upper tail coverts, marked with black 

 S23ots, which are edged with reddish russet; throat, front of neck, and 

 middle and lower part of abdomen of a pure white; this colour is 

 surrounded on the neck by a blackish streak, and a large collar of 

 red russet, which embraces the upper part of the chest; flanks with 

 long spots of the same colour; under tail coverts white, with some 

 brownish spots; large superciliary band of pure white, which is lost 

 in the white spot on the occiput; wings like the scapularies, and 

 barred with white; tail brown black, with the two median quills 

 bordered with russet, and the two outermost on each side marked 

 in their length with a white band, the smallest on the second." 



"In autumn they should have," according to Temminck, "the 

 black feathers of the vertex edged with brown, and the median band 

 of the same tint; on the sides and lower part of the neck is a row 

 of small brown spots only." 



The female differs considerably from the male. A young bird, 

 taken by Dr. Dybowski in Siberia, and which is in my own collec- 

 tion, has all the upper parts rusty brown, with dark, nearly black 

 longitudinal markings down the centre of each feather. These markings 

 are feebler on the head, and strongest on the lower wing coverts. 

 The upper wing coverts small, with white tips, which give a double 

 white band across the upper part of the wing. The wing feathers 

 hair brown, with a light fringe of rufous on the outer web. The 

 upper tail coverts rusty. The two upper feathers of the tail rufous, 

 with dark centres shading off to the sides; the outer tail feather 

 white, except an edging of dark brown from the base of the inner 

 web to two thirds its extent, and a similar patch, but narrower, close 

 to the shaft at the end of the feather. In the second feather the 

 brown patch goes the whole length of the feather, while the smaller 

 patch narrows and extends along the outer web, colouring also the 

 shaft of the feather: all the others are of the same dark rich brown 

 as the markings on the back and wing coverts. Throat and side of 

 neck dirty white, finely mottled with dark brown; crop and neck 



