GLYCYSPINA HUTTONI. 



Hutton's Bunting-. 



Euspiza Huttoni, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xviii. p. 811. 

 Emberiza BucJianani, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xvi. p. 780. 



Huttoni, Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of Birds in Mus. East-Ind. Comp., vol. ii. p. 485. — Jerd. Birds of India, 



vol. ii. part i. p. 373.— Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 42.— Blanf. Ibis, 1867, p. 463. 

 hortulana, Sykes in Proc. of Comm. of Sci. and Corr. of Zool. Soc, part ii. 1832, p. 93 ? 



Very little more is known respecting this very distinct species of Bunting than that it is a native of the 

 Deccan and the north-western provinces of India. There is but little doubt, in my mind, that the " Emberiza 

 hortulana, Red-brown Bunting," of Colonel Sykes's Catalogue above referred to is the same bird, notwith- 

 standing his remark that " although not absolutely identical, it is so nearly allied to the European bird 

 that he cannot separate it." I need scarcely tell ornithologists that the Glycyspina hortulana is not found in 

 India (or, if it be, it is in the extreme north-western provinces only, and not in the Deccan), and that it inhabits 

 more western countries, such as Persia, Asia Minor, and Europe. The two birds Glycyspina Huttoni and 

 G. hortulana both belong to the same subgenus, to which also must be added G. ccesia. Mr. Blyth has the 

 merit of being the first to discriminate and name the Indian bird, and of dedicating it, very appropriately, to 

 Captain Hutton, a gentleman who has devoted much time to, and published many valuable memoirs on, the 

 zoology of India. My own collection contains three very fine examples, two of which were kindly presented 

 to me by Captain Burgess, another devotee to the zoology of the same country, who tells me that they were 

 shot at Kouteel, from a flock flying about the edges of the Jowarree fields. Messrs. Horsfield and Moore, 

 quoting Mr. Griffiths's MS., say : — " Found in flocks near shingly or stony hills," in winter. Captain Hutton 

 met with it at Candahar, in summer ; and Mr. W. T. Blanford " killed four specimens — two at Nagpore, and 

 two west of Chanda." The following quotation is taken from Mr. Jerdon's standard work ' The Birds of 

 India,' vol. ii. part i. p. 373. 



" From the N. W. Himalayas. . . . Nearly allied to Emberiza hortulana, but differing in colour, having 

 the head, neck, throat, and interscapularies greyish, without marks, but a few traces of striation on the 

 lower part of the back ; orbital feathers whitish ; scapularies, fore part of the wings and margins of the 

 coverts and tertiaries of the same pale rufous buff as the entire lower parts, from the breast inclusive, which 

 is similar to that of the abdominal region only of E. hortulana" 



These remarks, with the assistance of the accompanying Plate, will be sufficient to identify the species. 



Col. Sykes states that it is a solitary bird, and that grass-seeds only were found in the stomachs of those 

 he dissected. Like most other Buntings, its irides are dark brown, the legs and feet fleshy brown, while the 

 bill is similar in colour to the breast. 



The figures are supposed to represent a male and a female, of the natural size. 





