178 



tectricibus alarum minimis olivaceis nee flavicantibus, et uropygio olivascente nee cinnamomeo 

 distinguenda. 



2 Idem, sordidior, plumis omnibus fulvo marginatis, dorsi plumarum marginibus cinerascentibus. 



$ hornot. supra brunnea, dorsi plumis vix cinnamomeo tinetis, marginibus plumarum pallide fulvescentibus : 

 tectricibus alarum minimis clare olivaceis, majoribus vix cinnamomeo magis fulvescenti marginatis : 

 corpore subtus toto pallide flavicante, ubique lineis parvulis brunneis striato : abdomine paulld magis 

 citrino tincto, immaculato : aliter ut in femina adulta colorata. 



Adult male in summer plumage. Crown of the head, back and sides of the neck clear olive-green, the shafts 

 blackish, giving the appearance of stripes all over the head; back and scapulars dark bay, almost 

 chestnut, each feather marked with a median blackish stripe; lower part of the back and rump 

 greenish grey, the shafts obscurely marked, more plainly on the upper tail-coverts, which are faintly 

 tinged with rufous; wing-coverts brown, the least ones olive-green, the median ones plain brown, 

 conspicuously edged with fulvous, the greater coverts margined with bay, those nearest the back more 

 broadly ; quills brown, all but the innermost secondaries washed with olive-green on the outer web ; 

 these latter broadly edged with bay, like the back ; all the quills whitish at the base of the inner web ; 

 tail-feathers brown, the two centre ones edged with fulvous bay, all the rest narrowly and obscurely 

 fringed with dull olive-green, the outermost feather almost entirely white, excepting the shaft and part 

 of the feather at the tip, and also an oblique narrow line running from the base along the inner web, 

 penultimate all brown, excepting an oblique patch of white towards the tip of the inner web ; lores and 

 and a very distinct eyebrow, as well as the cheeks, clear lemon-yellow ; a line of feathers from the base 

 of the bill, enclosing the eye, and broadening out over the hinder part of the ear-coverts, which it 

 encircles before it joins the malar stripe of feathers, blackish with a slight tinge of olive ; a malar stripe 

 dull greenish ; throat black, the lower part crossed with a citron-coloured crescent-like patch ; fore part 

 of the chest clear yellowish olive ; sides of the upper breast rich bay, with slight fulvous markings to 

 the feathers ; flanks greyish brown with a slight fulvous tinge, the shafts indicated by very distinct 

 brown lines, producing a striped appearance; centre of the breast and abdomen clear citron-yellow, 

 unstriped; under tail-coverts pale citron, one or two of the feathers striped with brown down the 

 centre ; under wing-coverts whitish with a very faint tinge of yellow ; bill dark ashy ; legs yellowish ; 

 iris brown. Total length 6 inches, culmen 0*4, wing 3"15, tail 2'8, tarsus 0'7. 



Obs. The specimen above described is in very complete spring plumage, but has not altogether lost the 

 fulvous edgings to the feathers, which are the remains of the winter plumage. A male bird, killed by 

 Sharpe near Chichester, on the 11th of July 1870, is in the fullest summer dress we have seen; but the 

 plumage is everywhere worn and abraded ; there are, however, hardly any remains of fulvous margins 

 to the back-feathers, on which also the median shaft-stripe is excessively narrow. Considerable 

 variation seems to exist in the colour of the head and green breast-patch ; some are very green in tint, 

 some, on the other hand, are more grey. One specimen in particular, in Lord Lilford's collection from 

 Spain, is wonderfully grey, especially on the nape; but whether this variation is due to age or not, we 

 are unable yet to discover. 



Male in winter plumage. More obscure than in summer, the feathers, as in most Buntings, being plainly 

 margined with fulvous ; the summer plumage being gained by a gradual shedding of these pale margins. 

 The throat is covered by brownish edgings to the black feathers, but never in such profusion as to 

 destroy it entirely. 



