THE CRESTED BUNTING. 
857 
The nest is said to be placed on or near the ground. It is made of 
dry bents and lined with a little hair. The eggs, four to six in number, 
are greenish, clouded with purplish grey and marked with some dark 
scrawls. 
Genus MEI.OPHUS, Swains, 
336. MELOPHUS MELANICTEEUS, 
THE CRESTED BUNTING. 
Fringilla melanictera, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 910. Emberiza cristata, VigorSy 
P. Z. S. 1831, p. 35. Melophus melanicterus, Jerd. B. hid. ii. p. 381 ; Hume, 
Nests and Eggs, p. 467 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 95 ; Butler, 8. F. iii. p. 498 ; Wardlaw 
Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 462 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 333 ; Hume ^ Dav. 8. F. 
vi. p. 409 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 604 j Hume, S. F. vii. p. 517, Yiii. p. 107 ; 
Scully, S. F. yiii. p. 334 ; Hume, S. i^. x. p. 234 (note). 
Description. — Male. The whole plumage deep black glossed with blue, 
turning to dull glossless brownish black on the centre of the abdomen, vent 
and under tail-coverts, the latter also slightly tipped with cinnamon ; lesser 
wing-coverts glossy black ; the greater wing-coverts and primary-coverts 
cinnamon ; wings cinnamon, each feather tipped with pale brown and the 
brown extending as a broad margin on the inner webs of the tertiaries ; 
tail cinnamon, tipped with pale brown, the tippings obsolete or absent on 
the outer pair of feathers. 
The female is different to the male. The crest is shorter and not very 
apparent in some specimens ; the whole upper plumage is dark brown, each 
feather edged with olive-brown, frequently with a tinge of rufous; the 
lesser wing-coverts are dark brown, narrowly edged with pale rufous ; the 
median and greater coverts are dark brown, very broadly edged with 
cinnamon ; the primaries and secondaries have the outer webs blackish, 
edged exteriorly with pale cinnamon; the inner webs are cinnamon, 
broadly tipped with dark brown ; the tertiaries are dark brown, edged with 
pale cinnamon on the outer webs ; the outer tail-feathers are cinnamon, 
with a broad band of brown on the inner web ; the other feathers are 
brown, with a narrow margin of pale cinnamon on the outer webs, and the 
fifth pair from the middle have also a streak of cinnamon on the inner 
webs ; the ear-coverts and cheeks are dark brown, the former tipped with 
olive-brown ; the lower plumage varies from a dull buff to a yellowish 
brown, streaked and mottled, especially on the throat and breast, with dark 
brown ; and the vent and under tail-coverts are brighter and sometimes 
tinged with rufescent. 
Young males are probably at first like the females ; and they appear to 
