EMBERIZA PUS ILLA , Rz*.
J.GouUbk EC.Siàdo', del et/ lüh/.
Dwarf Bunting*.
Emberiza pusilla, Pall. Reise, tom iii. p. 697.—Id . Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 42, pi. 47. fig. 1.—Gmel. edit.
Linn. Syst. Na t., tom. i. p. 871.—Lath. Ind. Ora., vol. i. p. 414.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. ix. p. 394,
Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 464, Emberiza, sp. 4.—Gray, Gen. o f Birds, vol. ii. p. 377,
■ Emberiza, sp. 14.—Blyth, Jo um . Asiat. Soc- Beng., vol. xv. p . 40.—Schleg. Rev. Crit. des Ois.
d’Eur., p. lxxi.—Schrenck, Vög. des Amurlandes, p. 289.—Midd. Sibir. Reise, Bd. xi. tab. xiii.
fig. 4 a .—Gould in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 377.—Bree, Hist, of Birds of Eur. n o t obs. in Brit.
Isles, vol. iii. p. 65.—Schleg. Verk. Teyler’s Haarlem, 1849, tab. v.—Jerd. Birds of India, vol. ii.
p a rt i. p. 376.
sor-dida, Hodgs. Joum. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xiii. p. 958.
oinops, subg. Ocyris, Hodgs. Proc. o f Zool. Soc., p a r t xiii. (1845) p. 35.—Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.,
vol. xvi. p. 205.
Euspiza pusilla ? Blyth, Cat. o f Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 130.
Emberiza oinops, Gray, Cat. o f Spec, and Draw, of Mamm. and Birds pres, to Brit. Mus.by B. I i. Hodgson, Esq.,
p . 108.
Ocyris oinopus, Hodgs. in Gray’s Zool. Misc. 1844, p. 84.—Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of Birds in Mus. East-
Ind. Comp-, vol. ii. p. 488.
Dwarf Bunting, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 201.—Id . Gen. H is t, vol. v. p. 326.
T h i s is one of the most ubiquitous Buntings in existence; for it is spread far and wide over the northern
portion of the Old World, being found in China, in the Amoorland, the Himalayas, the Daurian Alps, India,
the northern and central parts of Europe, accidentally in Heligoland, and once at least in Britain.
Pallas, who was the first to make us aware of its existence, states that it inhabits the neighbourhood of
the rivers and the larch-grounds among the torrents of the Daurian Alps; Mr. Hodgson includes it in his
list of the Birds of Nepaul; Mr. Swinhoe remarks that in North China it occurs in small flocks on the banks
of canals and the edges of waterpools between Takoo and Peking, and that in winter a few visit the southern
parts of that country; and Mr. Jerdon says :-|g |T h is small Bunting is found throughout the whole extent of
the Himalayas during the winter. I procured it a t Darjeling, Hodgson in Nepal, and Adams in the uorth-
west. It frequents bare spots of ground with low bushes in small flocks; Adams says it has the habits of
a Redpole. I shot one near Kolassee, in the Purneah district, frequenting grass and bushes near a small
riv e r; and as it is a bird not likely to be remarked, it will probably be found in similar places throughout
the plains in the north of India during the cold weather.”
“ The only specimen of this small Bunting that we brought home,” says Herr Gustav Radde, “ I shot on
the 18th September, on the upper Amoor, a little below the mouth of the Oldoi. It was a female that quite
agrees with Pallas’s description. In the autumn dress, the feathers of the head have rust-yellow edges,
which make both the black side stripes and rust-coloured middle stripes somewhat indistinct, and only to
show in spots. I found a nest of this Bunting in the lower Amoorland, in a scanty part of the pine-wood
forest between the lake of Kidsi and the sea-coast. I t lay on the ground between moor tussocks, and was
artlessly made of spines of the larch and pine. The eggs in it, five in number, were exactly of the size
and form described by Middendorf, viz. strongly tapering, 17'5 millim. long, and 14 broad, covered, on a
dirty-white ground, all over with very many violet-brown spots and markings : on the 17th June they were
still quite unincubated. We may observe, by the way, that here aud there between the tussocks in the
wood there lay remains of snow.” (Schrenck’s ‘ Vogel des Amurlandes,’ p. 289.)
“ Occiput, cheeks, and part of the throat ferruginous, with two distinct deep-black irregular bands
extending from the base of the upper mandible over each eye, where they turn round, and in some
specimens form a more or less complete collar round the neck, mingled with white or fawn-colour; throat
more or less white, mingled with the ferruginous colour of the occiput and cheeks ; base of the inner web
of the external tail-feather white, that of the second the same, but only half as wide. First and third
primaries of nearly equal length, the second the longest in the wing. Length of male five inches and three-
tenths ; carpus to tip three inches; tail two inches and a h a lf; beak two-fifths of an in ch ; tarsus seven-
tenths of an inch.” (Dr. Bree.)
Mr. Jerdon says, “ the female is dull olive-greenish, with a rufous tinge; wing-coverts tipped whitish ;
beneath whitish yellow, sullied on the breast, and streaked on the flanks and sides of the foreneck,”— and
describes the bill of the male as “ horny; legs pale fleshy-brown ; irides brown.”
The figures are of the natural size.