YELLOW-BELLIED BUNTING. 375 



of black : lower part of the neck and back brown, 

 the feathers darkest in the middle : under parts of 

 the body entirely yellow, inclining to red on the 

 breast, and white on the chin and vent ; lesser 

 wing-coverts ash-coloured ; middle white ; greater 

 ones black, edged with rufous : quills black, some 

 with white margins ; the rest with rufous : rump 

 grey: tail forked, the outer and inner feathers of 

 each side of the bifurcation shortest ; two middle 

 feathers dusky brown ; the rest dusky with pale 

 edges, some of the outer ones with white tips : 

 legs flesh-colour. The supposed female is brown 

 on the upper parts ; the feathers darkest in the 

 middle: the middle of the wing longitudinally ru- 

 fous from the bend : under parts of the body dirty 

 white : rump ash-colour : head with only two black 

 streaks, one beneath the eye towards the ear ; the 

 other in the direction of the under mandible : tail 

 brown, with rufous edges. 



The Bonjour-commandeur of BufFon seems to 

 be a variety of this protean species : it has the top 

 of the head variegated with black and grey, with 

 two streaks of black in the same situation as the 

 female of the above, but they are broader : there 

 is also a greater inclination to rufous on the upper 

 parts of the plumage : sides of the head grey: body 

 beneath dirty white, striped on the fore-part of the 

 neck with cinereous : sides of the body rufous : tail 

 as in the male, above described, but ash-coloured 

 beneath : legs pale yellow. 



BufFon informs us this bird is called Bonjour- 

 commandeur, from its singing always at daybreak ; 



