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LESBIAN BUNTING.

Emberiza Lesbia.

Le Bruant de Mitiléne.

Tus Emberiza Lesbia is one of the rarest species of the present genus, but at the same time one of the most
universally distributed ; it sparingly inhabits the eastern parts of southern Europe, and occurs but very rarely
in Italy and Provence ; it is also found in Greece, and we have seen it in collections from China. M. Tem-
minck states that it is found also in Japan, where it is known under the name of ‘* Jamuzuzume.”

 

 

In its habits and manners it doubtless closely resembles the other members of the family, and but little
difference is perceptible between the sexes.

The head is greyish olive, with a stripe of dark brown down the centre of each feather; back of the neck
and back reddish brown, with a broader and more conspicuous stripe down each feather, but becoming nearly
imperceptible on the rump ; wing-coverts chestnut, striped down the centre with blackish brown ; secondaries
blackish brown, bounded on each side with rufous and margined with pale brown; quills and tail brown
margined with paler brown ; ear-coverts deep reddish brown, beneath which is a broad stripe of buff; throat
whitish ; bounded on each side with numerous oblong spots of dark brown, which meet and cover the front
of the breast ; under surface buff, marked on each side immediately below the breast with several indistinct
spots of chestnut, and on the flanks by stripes of dark brown on the centre of each feather; bill, legs, and
feet pale brown.

The female only differs in having the spots on the sides of the throat and breast more numerous, and in
having the whitish part of the throat less extensive.

We have figured a male and female of the natural size.