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" seen among the hills in the small valleys formed by every stream of water (oftenest in a road) ; 

 not actually in flocks, but several in the same valley." 



Canon Tristram records it as " not uncommon, in small bands of from six to twelve, in the 

 open country, from K'sour southwards, and also all through the oasis district of the Wed R'hir, 

 south of Eastern Algeria. I have always observed the sexes apart in winter, and the males far 

 more abundant than the females. It is only a winter visitant to the Sahara. In habits and 

 general characteristics it in no way differs from our Yellow Bunting [Ernberiza citrinella)." 



Writing from Malta, Mr. Wright says : — " This is also a very rare bird. It visits the island 

 occasionally, in the fall of the year and in winter. One was taken alive in January 1863, and 

 appeared very lively in captivity, taking hemp and other seeds readily. It lived till the following 

 August, when, like most pets, it came to an untimely end." In Sardinia it is stated by Count 

 Salvadori to be rare. In Modena, according to Doderlein, it is found during migration, affecting 

 the cultivated ground. A few pairs remain to breed in the Apennines. In Sicily it is common 

 during the winter, both in the hills and on the plains ; but a good many remain to breed 

 there. In his essay on the ornithology of the Ionian Islands, Lord Lilford remarks : — " I 

 noticed this species only once in these parts. This was a single bird, seen near Pagania, in 

 January 1857." In Greece Lindermayer found it common from November to March, frequenting 

 desert stony localities, like Ernberiza ccesia. He believes that it breeds in the mountains of 

 Greece. It is not found on the islands of the Archipelago. Dr. Kruper found it common in 

 the conifer region in the Greek mountains, where it builds its nest on the ground amongst 

 the grass. On Olympus it is common ; but in Asia Minor it is rarer, and found in the pine- 

 woods. Messrs. Elwes and Buckley state that it is plentiful in Macedonia. Professor Nord- 

 mann found it breeding near Laspi, on the south side of the Crimea, and common in Abasia 

 and Ghouriel. Menetries, during his journey to the Caucasus, observed it on the mountains of 

 Talyche, where it is not common. Radde, however, says that it is not rare on the Caucasian 

 mountains. Mr. Keith Abbott procured it at Trebizond, and Messrs. Dickson and Ross near 

 Erzeroom. 



Canon Tristram gives the following account of the bird in the Holy Land : — " Ernberiza cia, 

 certainly not a Meadow-Bunting in Palestine, we found only on the tops of the hills and in the 

 highest parts of Lebanon, both in summer and winter. Unlike the others, it does not seem to 

 migrate. We several times found its nest among rocks in Lebanon towards the end of June. 

 The eggs are clay-coloured, covered with fine lines, chiefly round the broad end, very distinct 

 from any other Bunting's I ever saw, and certainly different from the varieties of the Yellow 

 Ammer's, which do duty for the eggs of this bird in most collections. Its note is very like that 

 of the Yellow Ammer, but more lugubrious and long-drawn, uttered generally from the top of a 

 flat rock, its favourite perch." In the Berlin Museum there is a specimen collected by Hemprich 

 and Ehrenberg in Arabia; but Von Heuglin considers it a very rare straggler to North-eastern 

 Africa, only visiting that part in winter. 



We have no positive evidence that this Bunting goes to India, as all the specimens we have 

 as yet examined from that country belong to E. straclieyi ; at all events it can only occur in that 

 country in the winter. 



In its habits the Meadow-Bunting most resembles the Common Yellow Ammer ; and its flight 



