RUSTIC BUNTING. 57 



Pallas, lias never been taken with certainty in Europe. 



Accept the assurance, etc., etc., 

 C. R. Bree, Esq., M.D. J. H. Blasius." 



I think it will be allowed that the above letter 

 from so good an authority, clears up much of the 

 confusion which has been occasioned in the natural 

 history of the Eurorean Buntings, by mistaking slight 

 differences of plumage for specific distinctions. 



From Dr. Schlegel, of Leyden, I have also received 

 along letter, from which I make the following extract: 

 — "The question of the synonymes of the Asiatic Em- 

 beriza killed in Europe is a very difficult one. I think 

 it is almost impossible to state which species are meant 

 by Buffon, but I believe that all the Asiatic Emberizce 

 caught in Southern Europe belong either to rustica or 

 pusilla, two species breeding as you know in Northern 

 Russia, and visiting in small numbers the east of Europe. 



Emberiza fucata I believe now has never yet been 

 observed in Europe: it is a species of Eastern Siberia 

 and Japan, and very well characterized by its long 

 Lark-like claws. I am also quite sure that the female 

 and young of E. Schceniculus have often been confounded 

 with one or the other of those species, although easily 

 distinguished by its longer tail." 



The Rustic Bunting is, as has been stated in the 

 above letter, an inhabitant of Northern Russia. It is 

 mentioned by MiddendorfF as occurring in Siberia, and 

 Temminck states that it has been observed in the 

 Crimea. It has also been taken accidentally near 

 Marseilles, one individual having been captured there 

 alive, and kept in a cage for two years, by M. 

 Barthelemy, the curator of the museum of natural 

 history in that town. This gentleman, as quoted by 



