THE DWARF BUNTING. 
353 
333. EMBEEIZA PUSILLA. 
THE DWARF BUNTING. 
Emberiza pusilla, Pall. Reis. Buss. Reichs, iii. p. 697 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 376 ; 
Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 95 j Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 463 ; David et 
Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 323 ; Ih'esser, Birds Eur. iv. p. 235, pi. ; Hume ^ Dav. 
S. F. vi. p. 407 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 602 ; Seehohm, Ibis, 1878, p. 337 ; 
Hume, S. F. viii. p. 107 ; Brooks, S. F. viii. p. 488. 
Description. — Male in summer. A broad band running from the forehead 
to the nape over the crown light chestnut ; a broad band on either side of 
this black ; lores and ear-coverts dark chestnut ; a short line over the ear- 
coverts light chestnut^ like the coronal band ; upper plumage streaked with 
black_, rufous and grey ; wing-coverts brown^ edged with rufous ; the median 
coverts more broadly tipped^ forming a rufous band ; wings brown^ mar- 
gined with rufous-brown ; tail brown^ the penultimate pair of feathers with 
a white diagonal bar on the inner web, the outer pair with a larger band 
extending to both webs ; chin and upper throat pale chestnut ; lower throat 
white ; breast and flanks white_, streaked with black ; abdomen, vent and 
under tail-coverts plain white ; the white band on the penultimate pair of 
tail-feathers is sometimes very small and occasionally absent. 
The 7nale in winter has the black bands on the head fringed with rufous, 
and the chestnut on the head is more subdued. It does not appear to 
undergo any other change. 
The female in summer is very similar to the male in winter ; but it wants 
the chestnut on the throat, which is wholly white and bounded on either 
side by a black moustachial streak. 
The female in winter loses all the chestnut on the head, which becomes 
dark brown, each feather edged with pale rufous. 
Bill horny ; legs pale fleshy brown ; irides brown. (Jerdon.) 
Length 5'25 inches, tail 2*4, wing 2*8, tarsus '7, bill from gape '45. 
The Dwarf Bunting was procured by Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay in Karennee 
at various elevations. Mr. Davison got it in Tenasserim on the summit of 
Mooleyit. I have not observed it in the Pegu Division, nor has it been 
recorded from Arrakan. 
In winter it is found in South China, the Indo-Burmese countries and 
throughout the whole extent of the Himalayas. It summers in North 
China and Siberia, ranging into North-eastern Europe and occasionally 
straggling into Great Britain. Mr. Seebohm observed it in Siberia as 
high as lat. 71°. 
This Bunting, according to Dr. J erdon, occurs in small flocks in bare 
spots of ground with low bushes. Mr. Seebohm found the nest in Siberia ; 
it was merely a hole made in the dead leaves, moss and grass on the 
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