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broadly, these latter being also slightly tinged with rufous ; tail rather paler brown, with edges and 

 tips of buffy white ; feathers in front of the eye and an indistinct eyebrow buffy white, with very tiny 

 longitudinal markings of dark brown ; ear-coverts dark brown, with narrow streaks of black ; under 

 surface of the body creamy white ; the throat and fore part of the chest streaked with small spots of 

 blackish brown, these spots being very tiny on the throat, where, however, they collect thickly together 

 on the malar line, forming a kind of moustachial streak ; on the chest the spots are slightly more 

 triangular, but on the lower part of the breast they take the form of narrow lines ; flanks slightly 

 rufescent, and strongly washed with brown, being at the same time distinctly striped with dark brown ; 

 under tail-coverts buffy white, with slight central streaks of brown ; under wing-coverts of the same 

 colour, varied down the centre of each feather with greyish ; bill horn-colour with a slight dash of red, 

 the edge of the upper mandible and the whole of the lower one yellow ; feet pale fleshy brown ; iris 

 dark brown. Total length 7 inches, culmen 052, wing 3 - 9, tail 3'1, tarsus 1*0. 



Obs. A great deal of difference is observable in Buntings killed in the spring and summer, some being 

 almost pure white underneath, with very few and indistinct stripes on the breast, the general shade of 

 the plumage being a pale greyish brown ; others, on the other hand, are very thickly spotted on the 

 under surface of the body. English examples are slightly darker than the Continental birds, the pale- 

 coloured ones in our collection being from Smyrna and Turkestan, so that, perhaps, this peculiar 

 variation is confined to the eastern specimens. 



Young. Much darker than the adult, and more ochreous-brown, with a very strong tinge of ochre on the 

 breast ; the markings on the latter more confused, and not nearly so distinct as in the adult. 



Obs. Macgillivray says that the young are " similar to the adult, but with the upper parts paler, and the 

 dark markings of the lower more elongated." A specimen sent to us by Mr. Schluter, from Hanover, as 

 well as two examples killed by Dr. Sclater in Oxfordshire do not answer to this description, but agree 

 with that above given by us. 



The Common Bunting is a resident species in Europe generally, but does not range very far 

 to the north in Scandinavia. It extends to the eastward in Turkestan and Central Asia. In 

 the British islands it is everywhere distributed, but is decidedly local in some places; thus 

 Mr. J. Brooking Eowe writes that it is common in Devonshire, but is scarcer near Exeter. In 

 the vicinity of London it is often obtained, having been seen in the Zoological Gardens in the 

 Regent's Park by Mr. Edward Bartlett. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., sends us a note : — " As the 

 summer draws on, the Corn-Bunting becomes rather abundant at Greatham, in Durham. The 

 first are generally seen about the 13th of March; and the following month small flocks begin to 

 appear ; but during the winter not a bird is to be seen. I have no doubt they breed there." 



Mr. A. G. More states that it is " less numerous in Scotland, being attached to the corn-fields 

 and cultivated districts, but reaches to the Outer Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland." Macgillivray 

 records it as common in the outer Hebrides, where it is called " Sparrow." Messrs. Gray and 

 Anderson state that it is very abundant in both Ayrshire and Wigtownshire, especially near 

 the coast between Girwan and the borders of Kircudbrightshire. " Mr. Gray has observed it to 

 be particularly common in the southern districts of Wigtownshire, where the pasture lands 

 are irregularly broken with protruding masses of rock." For the following interesting note we 

 are indebted to our friend Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown : — " Nowhere in Scotland have I observed 

 the Common Bunting to be so abundant as in the north-west of the island of North Uist, in the 



