220 



assumption of the winter plumage, as we have specimens from the same locality, Lake Baikal, in 

 summer and winter dress, so that no fixed period can be assigned for the putting on of the 

 hyemal dress. 



Owing to the rarity of Emberiza leucocephala in Europe, but little is known of its habits or 

 nidification, excepting through the medium of the Russian travellers in Siberia and the Amoor ; 

 and of these Radde alone enters into precise particulars. According to the observations of this 

 naturalist, this Bunting was found to be abundant on the islands of the Schilka from the early 

 part of May. In the morning the note of the male was heard incessantly in the birch woods, 

 where the bird chose the tops of the trees as a resting-place. The song reminded him somewhat 

 of that of Fringilla coelebs, but exhibited the Bunting-like rhythm. The female chooses high 

 lofty pine or larch trees for her nesting-place. Radde does not give any more details respecting 

 the nidification, further than that the young were fledged on the 10th of July in the forests on 

 Lake Baikal. Their plumage was then remarkable for the breadth of the black shaft-spots on 

 the feathers on the underside of the body, these spots being larger towards the point of the 

 feather ; otherwise they resemble the old female ; but the rust-red on the rump is paler and more 

 yellowish, while on the other hand all the black shaft-stripes on the crown and back are broader 

 and darker. In July Radde found the males still in full song on the island of Olchon, and 

 observes that the food of the old birds then consisted chiefly of young grasshoppers and cicadas. 



Of the nest we cannot give any details ; but we are fortunate in being able to describe the 

 eggs from specimens obtained by Dresser in exchange from the St.-Petersburg Museum, and 

 taken near Irkutsk on the 25th of May. These are in size about equal to pale sparely marked 

 eggs of E. citrinella, measuring f^ by f^, or may be, perhaps, a trifle smaller. They have a pale 

 greyish-white ground-colour, and are marked with faint underlying grey, scarcely perceptible 

 shell-marblings, and blackish brown surface-markings, very sparely distributed over the egg. All 

 these characters are like those on the eggs of the Yellow Ammer, viz. hair-like lines, looking as 

 if they were marked with a pen. According to Dybowsky and Parrex, who found this bird 

 breeding in Dauria, the number of eggs is from five to six. 



Von der Muhle observes : — 



" I have several times procured this bird in Roumelia in the late autumn, but only females 

 and young examples. They much resemble Emberiza schceniclus, and are, perhaps, not uncom- 

 mon, but are mistaken for this species. I can therefore state nothing further respecting it." 

 Dr. Lindermayer, however, did not observe it in Greece. 



Respecting its habits in confinement we may quote the following remarks of Victor Ritter 

 von Tschusi (J. f. O. 1869, p. 217) respecting a male sold to him in the Vienna market as a 

 Reed Bunting on the 27th of November, 1866 : — 



"I could only ascertain that this bird was caught a few days previously near Vienna; more 

 the dealer could not tell me. When I placed the bird in a roomy cage he was very shy, and flew 

 continually against the wires, so that I was obliged to cover him to avoid his injuring himself. 

 In the spring he got much quieter, and is now quite tame. His call-note, which is often heard 

 when he is singing, is exactly like that of a Yellowhammer. As I had both species in cages in 

 my room in the winter of 1866, I could daily convince myself of this. His song has nothing 

 Bunting-like in it, but, on the other hand, reminds me much of the song of the Goldfinch and 



