256 
ORNITHOLOGY. 
1*25; wings when closed reach to within 1*75 of end of tail; 
legs and feet flesh-coloured ; bill horny ; irides brown. 
713. Emberiza Cia, Linn. 
The Meadow Bunting, as this species is misnamed_, was 
common all through Kashmir,, from above Jamu to near the 
Zoji-la Pass ; beyond this it was not met with. It fre- 
quented low jungle and grassy hill sides. [G. H.'] 
I am not by any means certain that our Indian bird is 
identical with the European E. Cia, and I do not think 
good series of each have ever been compared. In Palestine, 
Canon Tristram tells us that E. Cia " is certainly not a 
Meadow Bunting, being found only on the tops of the hills 
and in the highest parts of Lebanon both in summer and 
winter/^ and much the same may be said of it in the 
Himalayas, west of the Ganges (I have seen no specimens 
east of this river), throughout which it resides the whole 
year round at heights of from 5000 to 9000 feet. 
With us it lays in May and June ; the nest is always on 
the ground, commonly wedged in under some large stone, 
or inserted between the blocks of the rough stone walls 
with which the hill sides are terraced, but occasionally 
placed at the base of some dense tuft of grass or shrubby 
bush. 
The nest is generally a shallow, loose, but pretty perfect 
cup, from three to four inches in diameter, externally com- 
posed of grass stems and lined with finer stems of the same 
and a few horse or other animal's hairs or moss roots. A 
nest of this species obtained near Kotghur was a moderate 
sized pad of grass about five inches long by about four broad 
and perhaps two inches in thickness. Towards one end of 
this was a beautiful little saucer-like cavity perfectly circular 
about 2 inches in diameter and 0"75 in depth, lined with very 
fine grass stems, and this again at the bottom of the cavity 
with fine white hairs, but of what animal I am uncertain ; 
they are much too fine for horse hair. 
The eggs of this species are typically moderately elon- 
gated ovals, perfect and regular in this shape ; they have 
little or no gloss, and the ground is a very pale greenish 
