horn-colour, the lower mandible yellowish; the plumage
generally resembles that of the female, but the light-coloured
borders of the feathers are so long as to conceal nearly all
the darker part, and while those of the crown of the head,
the nape and back are edged with ochreous-grey, those of a
stripe on each side of the vertex, and of the wing-coverts,
tertials and inner secondaries are more rufous; the line
immediately over the eye, and the front and sides of the
neck are pale ochreous, but the ear-coverts and the streak
from the lower corner of the mandible are distinctly marked
with dark brown; the pectoral gorget is ill-defined, and the
longitudinal streaks which mark it are continued along the
sides of the body and flanks. Young males seem to acquire
the black head in the spring following their first winter.
It was proposed by Friedrich Boie (Isis, 1826, p. 974)
to separate this species from the genus Emberiza, but
whatever reason he might have had for so doing he gave
none, and it seems to the Editor that none which can be
deemed sufficient is assignable. Nevertheless Boie’s proposed
genus Cynchramus has been adopted by several
writers.
The vignette below represents the breast-bones of the great
Bunting, to be presently described, and the Beed-Bunting.
E m b e r iz a r u s t ic a , Pallas*.
THE RUSTIC BUNTING.
News of the first and hitherto the only known occurrence
in England of the beautiful Bunting above figured was communicated
to ‘ The Ibis ’ for 1869 (p. 128) by Mr. Gould in
a letter dated December 30th, 1868. The specimen, which
is now in the collection of Mr. Monk, was caught near
Brighton, October 23rd, 1867, and shewn while alive to Mr.
Rowley. Its portrait has been given by Mr. Gould in his
e Birds of Great Britain.’
The proper home of this species is the north-eastern part
of Europe and the most northern part of Siberia. Pallas
originally described it as arriving in March in the willow-
beds of Dauuria, afterwards adding that it is abundant
along the rivers of Transbaikalia, where it sits on the
ground and trees singing with a voice not unlike that of the
Reed-Bunting. Steller observed it in Kamchatka, as Kitt-
litz subsequently did. Nearer to us it was shot at Hapa-
* Reisen durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs, iii. p. 698 (1776).