TAWNY BUNTING. 



345 



spot on the tips of the nintli and tenth ; those close 

 to the body and their coverts black, deeply mar- 

 gined with tawny : the greater and smaller coverts 

 of those quills which are white are of that colour, 

 extending quite to the edge of the wing : the 

 greater coverts of the primaries are like them, 

 white, tipped with black : bastard wing black : the 

 first and second quill-feathers are the longest, and 

 the latter rather exceed the other : the three outer 

 feathers of the tail on each side are white, except 

 the tips of the outer webs of the two first, and the 

 whole tip of the third, which are black, edged with 

 yellowish white ; the fourth has only a little white 

 at the base ; the others are black, margined at the 

 tip with pale tawny: legs and claws black; the hind 

 claw not much hooked, nor much longer than 

 the middle one : length seven inches : weight six 

 drachms and a quarter." The female appears to 

 differ in having all the greater wing-coverts black, 

 tipped with white ; the lesser coverts black and 

 grey mixed ; and the quills with less white : spe- 

 cimens taken in the depth of winter agreed with 

 the above in every respect. 



This bird has generally been considered as a 

 variety of the preceding, but the observations of 

 Mr. Montagu appear to decide in favour of its being 

 perfectly distinct : it is not very uncommon in De- 

 vonshire, and some other counties of England : a 

 female Mr. Montagu obtained alive was kept for 

 some time in a cage ; she preferred the seeds of 

 Canary to any other, which made her grow so ex- 

 cessively fat as to cause her death : she was shy to 



