1846.] or Little Known Species of Birds. 39 



Emberiza cia, Lin. (mentioned in Royle's list) : E. barbata, Scopoli ; 

 E. lotharingica, Gm. Length six inches and a half : of wing three inches ; 

 and tail two and three-quarters. Upper-parts rufescent-brown, brighter 

 on the tail- coverts, and marked, except on the latter, with a black central 

 streak to each feather : crown dusky, with some inconspicuous rufous 

 edges to the feathers, a pale medial coronal line, and a broad whitish 

 supercilium ; a black line passes beneath the latter through the eye, and 

 partly surrounds the pale ear- coverts, and another black streak proceeds 

 downward from the base of the lower mandible ; the chin, throat, and 

 breast, are dingy grey, with slight dusky spots in front of the neck ; 

 and the rest of the lower-parts are uniform light ruddy-brown, with 

 traces of dark streaks on the flanks : wings dusky, the feathers mar- 

 gined with the rufescent-brown of the back ; and the two outermost tail- 

 feathers on each side are chiefly white, except on their narrow outer webs. 

 Bill pale plumbeous, and legs light- coloured. Also procured in the vici- 

 nity of Simla by Capt. Thomas, who has obligingly presented it to 

 the Society.* According to Messrs. Dickson and Ross, this bird is com- 

 mon in the vicinity of Erzeroum, being found near mill-streams, and in 

 burying grounds. P. Z. S. 1839, p. 132. 



Mr. Hodgson, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 35, states that, in Nepal, — 

 " We have four species of Emberiza, three of which are the erythroptera, 

 chlorocephala, and aureola, of authors ; and the fourth," he adds, "is, I 

 think, new, — Emberiza oinops, mihi, — a new subgenus, Ocyris, mihi." 

 Of these four, the first now bears the name Lathami, Grayf ; the second 

 is, beyond doubt, my melanops, J. A. S. XIV, 554, which was recog- 

 nized by Mr. Hodgson when in Calcutta, as a species familiar to him, 

 and it is quite distinct from E, hortulana (v. chlorocephala,) of Europe \ ; 



* I have since been informed that it is there common. Lord A. Hay procured many 

 specimens ; and mentions also another species " closely allied to it, but differing in 

 having a large liver-brown spot on the cheek, and in some other particulars." The 

 liver-brown spot in question is possessed by E.fucata and by E. pusilla (?J. 



f Lord A. Hay possesses this bird from Hong Kong; and Mr. Jerdon considers it to 

 be the Moineau de Macao of Buffon, "and if so it will bear the prior, but certainly in- 

 appropriate, name of melanictera, Vieillot." 



J Since the above was penned, the Norwegian collection has supplied us with a 

 specimen of the European Ortolan, E. hortulana : its upper-parts are nearly as in E. 

 melanops, but the face and abdominal region are wholly different; the latter is nearly 

 of the same rufous tint as in E. cia, but mingled with yellowish ; while in E. melanops 

 the abdominal region is pure light yellow, with dusky streaks on the flanks. 



