ON THE OCCURREXCE OF THE EUSTIC BUNTING 

 (EMBERIZA RUSTIC A J IN YORKSHIRE. 



By Wm. Eagle Clakke. 



The addition of a new bird to a county list is a pleasing duty to one 

 specially interested in its avifauna, and, moreover, when the species 

 about to be added is one of such extreme rarity that its claims to be 

 considered British, have, hitherto, rested on the somewhat unsatis- 

 factory basis of a single occurrence, it not only adds to that pleasure, 

 but it is a matter of very great importance to British ornithologists 

 as substantiatinsr a claim which mie,ht otherwise be res-arded with 



o c? o 



only mixed satisfaction. Up to the 17th of September last the only 

 example of this rare Siberian bird known to have occurred in Britain 

 was caught alive at Brighton, on the 23rd of October, 1867.* 



The second specimen, now to be recorded, was shot on Saturday, 

 the 17th of September, at Easington, in Holderness, by Mr. Townend, 

 of that village. When first observed, the bird was on the beach 

 close to the sea, but on being approached took a short flight alighting 

 for a moment on some thistles, then it again returned to the sands and 

 was shot. Mr. Townend gave the bird to Mr. P. W. Lawton of 

 Easington, by whom it was set up for his beautiful collection of local 

 birds. Unfortunately not knowing the value of the capture, 

 Mr. Lawton failed to make a note of the sex. The bird remained 

 unidentified until I visited Easington, on the 7th inst., when I at 

 once saw that it was one of the rarer buntings, and on my return I 

 brought it to Leeds to examine with the literature of the subject. I 

 may say that my identification of the bird has been kindly confirmed 

 by Professor Newton of Cambridge, in whose care the specimen now 

 is, and by whom it will be exhibited at the next meeting of the 

 Zoological Society. 



This specimen agrees very fairly with Mr. Dresser's figure of the 

 young female, with the exception that the markings on the back, 

 breast, and flanks are more vinous and richer — in fact in this respect 

 more approaching in tint the adult male. 



It is a singular coincidence that on the same day that this extremely 

 rare straggler to Western Europe occurred on the Yorkshire coast, 

 Herr Gattle in a letter to my friend Mr. Cordeaux, informs him 

 N. S., Vol. vii.— Nov., 1881. 



*Ibis, 1869, p. 128 ; Newton's Yarrell, v. 2, p. 29. 



