LITTLE BUNTING. 147 



la summer the food of the Little Bunting is probably principally com- 

 posed oi: insects of various kinds ; but in winter its diet is^ like that of the 

 rest of the Buntings, almost entirely seeds or grain. In winter the Little 

 Bunting collects into flocks of greater or less extent ; and Jerdon states 

 that in India it frequents bare spots of ground studded with low bushes. 

 In winter it is evidently much shyer than in the breeding-season. Davison, 

 in his field-notes on the Birds of Tenasserim ('Stray Feath.^ vi. p. 407), 

 writes of this species : — " About the steep precipitous rocks, immediately 

 below the cone of Mooleyit, I saw a few flocks of this Bunting. They 

 were excessively wild, and it was with difficulty that I managed to secure 

 a single specimen. They settled about the rocks and on the grass, and 

 when disturbed separated, and generally settled on the tops of stunted 

 trees growing about." In China Swinhoe also states that it is gregarious 

 during the winter. It is sometimes kept in a cage. 



The male Little Bunting in full breeding-plumage has the entire head 

 rich chestnut, with a broad distinct black band on each side of the crown, 

 a narrow indistinct one round the ear-coverts, and an ill-defined mous- 

 tachial line of the same colour on each side of the throat ; the feathers of 

 the rest of the upper parts are brown with dark centres, those on the 

 mantle and the scapulars, the innermost secondaries, and the greater wing- 

 coverts having pale chestnut margins ; a bar is formed across the wing by 

 the median wing-coverts having pale tips ; the quills and tail-feathers are 

 brown, the two outermost feathers of the latter with an elongated white 

 stripe on the inner web running out at the tip of both feathers and onto 

 the basal portion of the outside feather, but the white on the second 

 feather is frequently absent ; the underparts are nearly white, shading into 

 chestnut on the chin and upper throat, and conspicuously streaked with 

 black on the breast and flanks. BiU dark brown, almost black; legs, feet, 

 and claws pale brown ; irides hazel. The female somewhat closely resembles 

 the male, but the black on the head is duller and the chestnut paler. 

 After the autumn moult the pale margins to the feathers partially conceal 

 the black on the head, and cause the stripes both on the upper and under 

 parts to be less distinct ; and the breast, flanks, and under tail-coverts are 

 slightly suffused with buff. The bill also becomes paler, especially the 

 under mandible. Birds of the year scarcely differ from adults; but young 

 in first plumage are much more streaked both on the upper and under 

 parts. 



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