“ ‘ os took me by surprise :
nest ensconced in alittle nook, half covered by herbage. But the appearance of the eggs 7 eee

for they were unlike any I knew—of a brown colour, indeed, but of a brown so warm that I Coe only liken it
y e them, in my mind, with those of the Lapland Bunting. However,

to that of old mahogany-wood, and compar |
a ies y glass, I could see her almost as well as if she had
glas

i ing é : é ith m
there was the bird, running about so close to me that, mit ee,
gs without disturbing the nest, and, carefully mé g pot,

been in my hand. I replaced the eg se Z :
Simpson, reaching his arm

retired. In half an hour or so we returned, going softly to the place; and Mr.

over the protecting hassock of grass, dexterously secured the bird in his hand as she was taking flight. I

then at once knew, from her pale fawn-coloured throat, that the nest we had found belonged to a species

which, up to that time, I believe had been known in Europe only as an accidental visitant.

“Tn a week’s time we were quartered at Nyborg, a small settlement at the Head of the Waranger Fjord.
Here willows and birches grew with far greater luxuriance, even at the waters edge, than Ores down oe
inlet. Some even attained to nearly twice the height of a man, and formed thickets which, the intervening
spaces being exceedingly boggy, were not easily explored. In this secluded spot we zou our fed neated
friend not unplentiful. We could scarcely go out of the house without seeing one; and in the immediate
neighbourhood we procured some more identified nests, making a total of five, “and a a ooo of nn
birds, all of course in their breeding-plumage. We had also abundant opportunities of watching their habits,
and, above all, of contrasting them with those of the Titlark (4. pratensis), which was not uncommon in the
district, and to which this species has been so unjustly annexed as a variety. The two birds had, according
to our observation, an entirely different range, 4. pratensis haunting a station less wooded (saving the expres-
sion) than that of 4. cervinus, which latter we found at times feeding on the sea-shore, a habit we did not
notice the former to indulge in. No one with ears, either, could fora moment be in doubt about their respec-
tive notes. It is true that the full song of 4. cervinus did not differ so strikingly from the more feeble
performance of A. pratensis as does, for instance, the joyous burst of 4. arboreus ; but it had an unmistakable
resemblance to the louder and perhaps harsher strains of 4. odscurus, and in all cases was sufficiently charac-
teristic for one to be quite certain as to the nature of the performer, even when the individual was not in
sight. In a word, none of our party had any hesitation as to regarding A. cervinus as a perfectly good species.

‘* A young bird was obtained at Mortensnzs, between Wadso and Nyborg, on the 16th of July ; and as it
was attended by its parents (both of which were well seen by Mr. Wolley and myself), it could only have
just left the nest ; it appeared to differ from the young of the Titlark merely in being of a ruddier com-
plexion. . . . . . Ihave already mentioned what the eggs looked like ; and it would be difficult, in words,
to convey a better idea of them. All the nests I saw were simply built of dry bents, without any lining of
feathers or hair.”

Middendorff, who considers 4. rufogularis and A. cervinus to be identical, says of the latter, ‘ This bird
was found in both North and South Siberia. I shota female in the Stanowoj mountains, on the 26th of May,
consequently not on the passage. The rust-yellow of the Siberian specimen has a somewhat violet tint, very
sinilar to the colour on the breast of the Turtle Dove; it covers the cheeks near the eyes, the breast, flanks,
neck, and upper part of the breast. It is only found in this plumage from May to July?

The Rev. H. B. Tristram obtained a single specimen only on the co

me ast of the plain of Sharon in winter
—that is, in the month of February.

“pS ene FS x : 3
Mr. Swinhoe states that it is “a winter bird in South China and Formosa, which passes the summer in
Kamtschatka she tthern reojons BAe to as ;
Kamtschatka and the northern regions. Flocks pass over Amoy as late as the first week in May. Before

. entire moult, when the eyebrows, throat, and breast show a pale
vinaceous mixed with more or less ochreous, but unspotted

tinge intensifies into a uniform dusky vinaceous,
series, showing every gradation between the pale-spotted winter and the fine nuptial dress.”

The male has tie head, neck, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts olive, with a broad Sufioe of dark brown
down the eu of each feather, even on those of the rump; wing-coverts dark brown tipped with cream
white ; primaries brown, with paler edges; tertiaries very dark Brown: bordered with light rreyish Ki
tail brown, the two centre feathers edged with tawny, and the other part white, with a oe d a
the margin of the inner web; the next with a triangular spot of white at th i ie

g s > at the tip; throat, cheeks, and breast

il streaks of brown across the latter ;

d on the flanks with dark brown.

In the female the ruf our
ale the rufous colouring is confined to the throat and

leaving China the bird undergoes an

As the nuptial season comes on, the silvery
which encroaches further on the lower parts. I have a fine

rufous, with a gorget formed by longitudinz bd il
coverts pale fawn-colour, streake aia
cheeks, and the breast is more thickly

respects the plumage resembles that of the male.

The figures which ar i

2 ‘ are of the natural size repr

o c » represent two states of E
tit Oo plumage.

streaked with dark brown; in other

The plant is the Pinguicula