BUNTING. 315 



It has been noticed,* that this bird soon regains the long tail 

 feathers after moulting, contrary to the Whidah Bird, which is often 

 half a year without them. The three last described bear much 

 affinity to each other. M. Temminck thinks them all to be the 

 same, at different periods of age or season. 



23— SHAFT-TAILED BUNTING. 



Emberiza regia, Ind. Om. i. 406. Lin. i. 313. Gm. Lin. i. 884. Shaw's Zool. ix. 426. 

 Vidua riparia Africana, Bris. iii. 129. t. 9. f. 1. Id. 8vo. i. 342. 

 La Veuve de la Cote d'Afrique, PI. enl. 8. f. 1. 



1 a quatre brins, Bi{f. iv. 158. pi. 5. 



Shaft-tailed Bunting, Gen. Syn. iii. 183. 



SIZE of a Linnet ; length to the end of the shorter tail feathers 

 four inches and a half. Bill red ; sides of the head, even with the 

 eyes, the under parts, and round the neck rufous ; hind part of the 

 neck spotted with black ; lower part of the thighs and vent black ; 

 the four middle tail feathers are nine or ten inches long, and webbed 

 only for about two inches at the ends, otherwise simple shafts without 

 webs; the rest of the feathers even, short, and black; legs red. 



The female is brown, and has not the long tail feathers. These 

 birds moult twice in a year, and in the winter season the male 

 becomes very little superior to a Linnet in colour, only the grey 

 somewhat brighter. 



Inhabits Africa, and is a much scarcer species than the Whidah 

 one. It varies in having the upper parts brown, and the middle of 

 the feathers darker, in the manner of the female House Sparrow ; 

 tail feathers dusky, with pale rufous margins. 



24— BLACK LONG-TAILED BUNTING. 



SIZE of a Chaffinch. Bill stout, black; plumage wholly dusky 

 black ; the tail very long in proportion, as in the Whidah Species, 



* Edwards. 



Ss2 



