Mr. H. Seebohm 07i the Ornithology of Siberia. 339 
Emberiza schceniclus^, Linn. 
The Eeed-Bunting arrived on the Arctic circle on the 13th 
of June, and soon became very common. As we proceeded 
north w^e lost sight of this bird before we had quite reached 
the limit of forest-growth; but I got a sitting of its eggs in 
lat. 70i°. 
Emberiza polaris, Midd. 
On the 9th of June, four days before the arrival of the 
Reed-Bunting, a smaller and darker-coloured Bunting ap¬ 
peared. It was very shy and skulking in its habits, and I 
only secured one specimen. I afterwards added a second to 
my collection. It appeared to be a comparatively rare and 
local bird. I did not find it anywhere except on the banks 
of the Koo-ray'-i-ka. I looked for it in vain on the other 
bank of the Yen-e-say^, opposite the mouth of the Koo-ray'- 
i-ka, a locality where the Reed-Bunting was extremely abun¬ 
dant. The following measurements of a male, compared with 
a male of the common bird from the same locality, show that 
it is considerably smaller than the European Reed-Bunting, 
with a proportionately slightly longer tail. The figures are 
inches and decimals. 
U. schceniclus. 
Wing from carpal joint . . 3*25 2‘83 
Tail. 2-7 2-5 
Culmen. *43 *4 
Tarsus. *75 *65 
The distribution of colour in the two species is exactly the 
same, except that the margins of the feathers on the back, 
wing-coverts, and inner secondaries vary from rich chest¬ 
nut to pale brown in the larger species, and from blue-grey 
to white in the smaller species. This is specially conspicuous 
on the wing-coverts near the carpal joint. On the smaller 
bird there is a trace of chestnut in the middle of the back 
and on the inner secondaries. 
So far as I know, the male of this bird has never been de¬ 
scribed before; but I think there can scarcely be a doubt that it 
is the male of the bird described by MiddendorT as Emberiza 
2a2 
