liO BRITISH BIRDS. 



EMBERIZA RUSTICA. 

 RUSTIC BUNTING. 



(Plate 15.) 



Emberiza rustica, Pall. JReis. Suss. Reiehs, iii. p. 698 (1776) ; et auctorum pluri- 

 morum — Temminck 8/- Schlegel, Bonaparte, Middendorff, Naumann, Salvadori, 

 Gray, Neivton, Dresser, &c. 



Emberiza lesbia, Omel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 882 (1788). 



Emberiza borealis, Zett. Mesa Sver. och Norr. Lappm. i. p. 107 (1822). 



Spina lesbia {Gmel.),Kaup, Naturl. Syst. p. 153 (1829). 



Hypocentor rusticus (Pall.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 131 (1850). 



Cynchramus rusticus (Pall), Begl. et Gerhe, Orn. Eur. i. p. 329 (1867). 



Three specimens of the Rustic Bunting, another East-European and 

 Siberian species, have been captured in the British Islands, thus well 

 establishing its claim to rank amongst our accidental visitors. The first 

 specimen was recorded by Mr. Gould in 'The Ibis' for 1869 (p. 128). It 

 was caught near Brighton on the 23rd of October 1867, and was seen alive 

 by Mr. Dawson Rowley on the day of its capture. It is now in Mr. Monk's 

 collection. The second specimen was shot at Easington, in Holderness, in 

 September 1881, and was recorded in the ' Zoologist ' for that year (p. 465), 

 by Mr. Eagle Clarke. The third example was recorded in the same 

 periodical for 1883 (p. 33) by Lord Lilford. It was netted by a bird- 

 catcher at Elstree reservoir, in Hertfordshire, on the 19th of November 

 1882, and it was sent to Mr. Burton, the bird-stuffer, in the flesh, and on 

 dissection proved to be a young male. 



The range of the Rustic Bunting is very similar to that of the Little 

 Bunting, but extends slightly further to the west. It does not go so far 

 north to breed, neither does it winter so far south. In Finland it has not 

 been found further north than lat. 64°, but in Archangel it is common in 

 lat. 65°. Hoffmann found it on the Ural Mountains in lat. 62" ; but it 

 was not obtained by Finsch in the valley of the Obb. Professor Slovzow 

 obtained an example in 1877, near Omsk, on migration; and in the valley 

 of the Yenesay I did not see it further north than lat. 62°. Middendorff 

 found it breeding on the Stanovoi Mountains, and Dybowsky confirms 

 the records of earlier ornithologists of its appearance in Kamtschatka. It 

 passes through Dauria, Japan, and Mongolia on migration, and winters abun- 

 dantly in China. It occasionally occurs in Turkestan on passage, and a few 

 may remain to breed on the mountains as well as on those of South Siberia. 

 Like the Little Bunting, occasional stragglers visit Western, Central, and 

 Southern Europe almost every year. It has been obtained in South 



