LITTLE BUNTING. 175 



was artlessly made of spines of the larch and pine. The eggs in it, 

 five in number, were exactly the size and form described by Mid- 

 dendorff, (and figured by me,) viz: strongly tapering, 17.5 millemetres 

 long and 14 broad, covered all over on a dirty white ground with 

 many violet brown spots and markings. On the 17th. of June they 

 were not incubated." 



M.M. Jaubert and Barthelemy la Pommeraye, in their "Richesses 

 Ornithologiques du Midi de la France," p. 164, have the following 

 remarks about this bird, which has occurred in Provence: — "This 

 pretty little Bunting, which Pallas tells us is originally from Siberia, 

 appears to have the same habits as its congeners, and lives well in 

 confinement on the same seed as other birds. It is, like all the 

 species which occur in climates seldom visited by man, of an exces- 

 sively familiar disposition. A young male, which we were sufficiently 

 fortunate to capture under singular circumstances, gives a good proof 

 of this. It was towards the end of October, when, with one of our 

 friends, M. Thumin, our attention had just been arrested by the cry 

 of a little bird flying in the air. By the aid of an artificial call, 

 which I had on my lip, I tried to imitate the cry, and had scarcely 

 done so when the bird came and flew against me within reach of 

 my hand. It was enough to recognize it. The astonishment and 

 emotion of the naturalist at this apparition may be imagined. A few 

 steps back enabled us to shoot the poor little bird, and acquire this 

 precious addition to our collection. Its call-note is difficult to des- 

 cribe, and may be represented by the syllable Hsieuj 1 'tsieu/ which 

 the bird repeats at intervals. Its warbling is unknown to us." We 

 are left by M. Jaubert to imagine where he was with his friend M. 

 Thumin in the above narrative. Let us assume somewhere in the 

 South of France! 



Salvadori ("Fauna d'ltalia") gives us the following information: — 

 "Various individuals are said to have been taken in Liguria. Durazzo 

 ('Uccelli Liguria,' p. 50,) affirms that it nests on the high mountains 

 of Liguria, and that, driven away by the snow, it descends upon 

 the hills where it can be captured. Later on in the catalogue, 

 among the Geneva list, he says it arrives there in December. It is 

 also found in Nizzardo. In the collection of the Count Camozzi I 

 saw an individual which was taken in the neighbourhood of Bergamo. 

 Durazzo mentions another taken in Brescia, and presented to the 

 Milanese Congress by Lanfossi. I do not know if this species may 

 be really referred to the three individuals of which Perini speaks 

 under the name of E. Durazzi. Two others, taken in Venetia, are 

 mentioned by Nini. It does not appear probable that to this species 



