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Mr. H. Seebohm, who has just arrived from his long journey to Northern Siberia, has, 

 amongst other rarities, obtained the eggs of this species, and has given me for insertion in the 

 present article the following notes on its nesting-habits : — 



" The arrival of migratory birds in the Arctic regions is dependent to a large extent upon 

 the arrival of summer, which comes suddenly with the breaking-up of the ice on the rivers and 

 the general melting of the snow. This year (1877) summer was unusually late in Northern Asia. 

 On the Arctic circle, in the valley of the Yenesei, the ice on the river began to break up on the 

 1st June, and migratory birds arrived in great numbers. On the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd June I added 

 half a dozen new birds to my list. On the 4th I added a second half dozen, on the 5th a third 

 half dozen, and on the 6th ten more. On the 7th the Little Bunting arrived, in company with 

 the Golden Plover and the Pallid Thrush, nearly in the middle of the spring migration. The 

 next ten days added about three new birds a day to my list, after which I only picked up 

 stragglers that had escaped my notice before. 



"Before the snow, which was lying upon the ground to the depth of five or six feet up to 

 the 1st June, had sufficiently melted to make the forests penetrable, the Little Bunting was 

 extremely abundant, and its unobtrusive song was constantly heard. On the 23rd June I found 

 the first nest. I was on the south bank of the Kureika, and was scrambling through the forest 

 down the hill towards my boat, amongst tangled underwood and fallen tree-trunks, rotten and 

 moss-grown, when a Little Bunting started up out of the grass at my feet. It did not fly away, 

 but flitted from branch to branch within six feet of me. I knew at once that it must have a 

 nest ; and in a quarter of a minute I found it half hidden in the grass and moss. It contained 

 five eggs. The bird was still close to me, and I was obliged to leave the nest in order to get far 

 enough off the bird, so as to avoid blowing it all to pieces. It seemed a shame to shoot the poor 

 little thing ; but as the five eggs in the nest were the only authentic eggs of this species hitherto 

 obtained, it was absolutely necessary for their complete identification. The nest was nothing 

 but a hole made in the dead leaves, moss, and grass, copiously and carefully lined with fine dead 

 grass. The eggs were very handsome, almost exact miniatures of the eggs of the Corn-Bunting. 

 The ground-colour is pale grey with bold twisted blotches and irregular round spots of very dark 

 grey, and equally large underlying shell-markings of paler grey. They measure f-jj by f§ of 

 an inch. 



" I took the second nest in the forest on the opposite bank of the Kureika, on the 29th 

 June, containing three eggs. These eggs are somewhat less, measuring f^ by f^ of an inch. 

 The colour is somewhat redder, being brown rather than grey ; but the markings are similar. 

 The nest was in a similar position, and the behaviour of the bird precisely the same. 



"The third nest was taken in lat. 67° on the 30th June. The eggs, five in number, were 

 slightly incubated. The nest was lined with reindeer-hair. 



"The fourth nest contained six eggs, and was similar in character to the last, but more 

 sparingly lined with reindeer-hair. The tameness of the bird was the same in every instance. 



"The Little Bunting was common in the forest from the Arctic circle northwards, and after- 

 wards on the tundra up to lat. 71°; but I did not observe it at Golcheeka, in lat. 71|°, nor upon 

 the Brekhoffsky islands." 



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