EMBERIZA RUSTICA, Pait. 
Rustic Bunting*. 
Emleriza rustica, Pall. Itin., tom. ill. App. no. 21. 
horealis, Zetterst. Resa i Lappm., vol. i. p. 107. 
Durazzi, Bonap. Faun. Ital., tom. i. pi. 35. fig. 1 ? 
Hypocentor rtistica, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil i. p. 131, note. 
This is another bird of eastern origin which has been recently added to the list of occasional visitors to 
Britain, a veritable example having been captured near Brighton, in Sussex, a county which has been favoured 
by the occurence of a far greater number of novelties than any other part of England. This fact has been 
recorded by me before, and nearly in the same words, in my account of the species in my work on the 
‘ Birds of Asia ; ’ and as I therein gave all that is known respecting the history of the bird, and have acquired 
no additional information since, I cannot do better than repeat what I have there said. 
“ The principal habitats of this Bunting are North China, Amoorland, and Japan, from all of which countries 
I have seen specimens. During the last few years solitary individuals have wandered from their natural 
homes, and been observed and captured in other countries, among them Heligoland, and one in this country. 
In my opinion, it is quite impossible for the most astute ornithologist to account for this distant wandering, 
instances of which may have before occurred ; but we have no record of its having been found in England 
until the year 1867, when a fine female was captured near Brighton, on the 23rd of October, and is now in 
the possession of T. J. Monk, Esq., of Mountfield House, Lewes. This occurrence of the bird in Sussex 
was made known to us by George Dawson Rowley, Esq., of Brighton, a gentleman than whom no one has a 
greater love for natural history, and whose judgment is unsurpassed in discriminating any new comer that 
may arrive among us. 
“ The facts connected with its capture, as furnished to me by Mr. Rowley, are briefly these : — ‘ On the 
afternoon of October 23rd, 1867, Mr. Swaysland, of Queen’s Road, sent me a bird alive, just caught near 
Brighton. I examined it then, and next morning at his house, and I pointed out to him that it was a 
specimen of the Emberiza rustica of Pallas. Mr. Monk subsequently purchased the bird.’ 
“ Latham states that this species inhabits the willow-beds of Dauuria, and is there most frequently met with 
in March ; Gatke informs us that it occasionally visits Heligoland ; and Mr. Swlnhoe, in his ‘ Notes on the 
Birds observed about Talien Bay, in North China, from June 21 to July 25, I860,’ says, ‘I frequently met 
with this Bunting, which appeared to be the only species. Its choice habitats were the grass-covered sides 
of hills, where several together might be seen searching about on the ground for small seeds and insects. 
Occasionally flitting on the top of a rock, a male would continue to pour out a flow of rich notes, wild in 
their strain, but sweet and melodious. Its twittering call-note is not utdike that of the Robin I 
have not yet met with the bird in Southern China.’ 
“ Mr. Henry Whitely, who shot specimens in Hakodadi, in Japan, in the month of October, informs us that 
the bill is reddish brown, the irides dark hazel, and the legs and toes brownish flesh-colour. 
“ The male has the lores, sides of the head, and ear-coverts blackish brown ; posterior to tbe ear-coverts, 
within the black, a spot of dull greyish white; above the eye, from the bill to the nape, a broad streak of 
white in some specimens, and bulfy white in others ; above this is a stripe nearly black, leaving the centre of 
the crown brown ; tbroat white, with a moustache-like mark from the angle of the lower mandible, formed 
of dark brown feathers, bordered with buffy white ; nape and gorget across the breast rich chestnut-red, 
each feather with a paler margin ; feathers of the centre of the back brownish black, margined with tawny ; 
rump and upper tail-coverts cbestnut-red, edged with tawny ; greater and lesser wing-coverts brownish black, 
margined externally with tawny and tipped with buffy white ; primaries and most of the secondaries brown, 
narrowly edged with tawny ; tbe last three or four secondaries, nearest the body, conspicuously margined 
with tawny ; under surface white, with the exception of the centres of the flank-feathers, which are chestnut- 
red ; tail dark brown, the centre feathers edged with tawny ; a broad longitudinal oblique stripe of white 
down the centre of tbe external featber, and a narrower one down the next on each side. 
“In the female the general arrangement of the colouring of the body is very similar, but much paler; tbe 
flank-marks extend further down the sides ; and the ear-coverts and the black above tbe superciliary mark 
are much less deep.” 
The Plate represents a male and a female, of the size of life, the figure of the latter being taken from the 
example captured at Brighton. 
