206 BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. 
fifteen times, in May and June, and once in August ; but I do not 
find it recorded from Northern Germany, though it sometimes visits 
Austria. It has also occurred near Marseilles, and along the Riviera 
to Liguria ; while in Verona, as well as down the east side of Italy, 
it is not uncommon and breeds occasionally, as it does abundantly 
in Dalmatia on the further side of the Adriatic. To Sicily and Malta 
it is only a rare visitor, and it does not seem to cross to Africa. In 
Greece, Turkey, the Danubian Provinces, Southern Russia, Asia 
Minor, Palestine and Northern Persia it is common from the end of 
April to autumn, after which it migrates to its winter-quarters in 
North-western and Central India, where immense flocks are found 
during the cold season. 
The Black-headed Bunting seldom ascends the mountains to any 
great elevation, preferring the flat ground planted with vines, olive- 
trees, pomegranates &c., near the sea-shore. The nest is generally 
in climbing plants, rose-bushes or brambles, and, in Turkey, often 
among peas, which are allowed by the gardeners to stand until the 
time that the young are fledged. It is rather loosely constructed of 
the stalks of small flowering plants, with a lining of dry grass, roots 
and hair. Thé eggs—different in appearance, to those of any other 
European Bunting—are pale greenish-blue, speckled with ash-brown, 
and are 4-6 in number: measurements ‘85 by ‘7 in. In summer 
both young and old feed on grasshoppers and other insects, and on 
fruit ; but in India, during autumn and winter, considerable havoc 
is made in fields of grain. Canon Tristram says that this bird has 
nothing of the Bunting in its habits or character, whereas Seebohm 
asserts that in its habits and song it is a typical Bunting. The call- 
note of the male is a vibrating monotonous chiviriri. 
The adult male has the head and ear-coverts black ; back and 
rump orange-brown ; wings hair-brown, with dull whitish margins to 
the coverts and secondaries ; tail-feathers hair-brown, with a narrow 
white streak to the inner webs of the outer pair; under parts and 
sides of the neck bright gamboge-yellow ; bill greyish horn-colour ; 
legs and feet pale brown. Length 6°75; wing 3°7 in. After the 
autumn moult the bright tints, although perceptible at the bases of 
the feathers, are obscured by the new dull brown edges. The female 
is sandy-brown on the upper parts, with darker striations on the head 
and back, and buffish-white margins to the wing-coverts and quills ; 
rump slightly tinged with yellow ; tail-feathers hair-brown with paler 
margins ; throat and belly dull white; breast and flanks sandy-buff 
with narrow brown streaks; under tail-coverts pale yellow. The 
young resemble the female. 
