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From Dr. Tristram's ' Notes on the Ornithology of Palestine,' we extract the following 

 information : — 



" Emberiza ccesia takes the place of the Yellow Ammer in Palestine. Its return is sudden 

 and universal, and it peoples every part of the country from the banks of the Jordan to the high 

 parts of Lebanon. It builds either on the ground under a tuft, or in a low bush. Its note is 

 low, but cheery, often repeated, like the Ortolan's, from the top of a bush or low tree. The 

 nest is very neat and compact, lined with fibres and horsehair ; and the eggs, four in number, 

 are sufficiently characteristic to render them distinct from those of any other Bunting. They are 

 russet or reddish brown in their ground, covered with spots or blotches rather than with streaks, 

 after the fashion of those of the Ortolan. While the Ortolan prefers the olive-trees and gardens, 

 Emberiza ccesia confines itself to the bare hillsides and the scrub or the rocky Wadys." 



Dr. Tristram has also written for us the following particulars : — 



"Emberiza ccesia returns about the beginning of March. The little flocks soon make their 

 arrival known by their lively, twittering, though monotonous, note ; and the call-note is like that 

 of our Yellow Ammer. They do not separate or pair for a few days, but may be seen under the 

 bushes or on the edge of scrub feeding in society, and hopping into the thicket on the approach 

 of a stranger. If there were hedges, this Bunting would be a true hedge-row bird. The nest is 

 similar in situation to our Yellow Ammer's, but much neater and more solid ; sometimes I have 

 taken it in the fork of a low bush, but generally in a bank-side under a good shelter of stone. 

 The eggs are, I think, the prettiest of all the Bunting tribe, and thoroughly characteristic. 

 The bird is of a familiar disposition ; and if we camped in the neighbourhood of a pair, they soon 

 found the advantage of having barley-fed animals close by." 



Dr. Lindermayer, whose description of the nest and eggs agrees with that of Dr. Tristram, 

 states further, as to its habits in Greece : — 



" Directly after its arrival it frequents hillocks and the dried-up shores of the mountain- 

 streams close to the sea, where it seeks its food along with Stonechats, Larks, &c, which arrive at 

 the same time. It generally sits on the ground ; and is only occasionally seen for a few moments 

 calling from a low bush. It leaves us very early ; and I have never had the opportunity of seeing 

 it in the summer or the beginning of the autumn in its migration southward." 



We have several eggs of this bird from Dresser's collection, received by him from Dr. 

 Kriiper, before us. They are dull white, with pale purplish black underlying and blackish 

 brown overlying spots and scratches generally distributed over the surface of the egg; they 

 measure f-jy by f^ inch, and are slightly pointed at one end. 



The Plate represents a pah - of adult birds in our collection, the male being from Smyrna, the 

 female from Palestine ; and the descriptions are taken from the same birds. 



