Part 274

698. EMBERIZA SPODOCEPHALA Pallas.

BLACK-FACED BUNTING.

Emberiza spodocephala Pallas, Reise Russ. Reichs (1776), 3, 698; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1888), 12, 522; Grant, Ibis (1895), 258; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 240; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 104.

Catanduanes (Whitehead). Eastern Siberia; in winter to Assam, Manipur, China, and eastern Himalayas; accidental in Japan.

"Adult male in summer plumage.--General color above dark brown, the feathers of the upper back slightly washed with rufous, edged with fulvous and broadly streaked down the middle with black; scapulars like the back; lesser wing-coverts uniform reddish brown; median and greater series blackish brown, externally sandy brown, margined paler and tipped with buffy white, more distinct on the median coverts; the inner greater coverts more distinctly rufous externally; primary-coverts and quills dusky brown, externally fringed with ashy; quills dusky brown, externally washed with rufous, the primaries with ashy white; inner secondaries resembling the inner greater coverts; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts uniform earthy brown; center tail-feathers light brown, the remainder dark brown, edged with lighter brown, the penultimate one with a large wedge-shaped mark of white near the end of the outer web, the outer feather almost entirely white save for an oblique black mark on the inner web and a small brown mark at the end of the outer web; head and neck all round, including the sides of the face and neck, throat, and chest ashy gray with a distinct wash of olive; lores, base of cheeks, and chin black; breast pale sulphur-yellow, whiter towards the vent; under tail-coverts pale sulphur-yellow; thighs ashy olive; sides of breast and flanks reddish brown, rather distinctly striped with black; axillars very pale sulphur-yellow; under wing-coverts white with dusky bases; quills dusky below, ashy whitish along the edge of the inner web. 'Bill brown, with the point blackish and the lower mandible whitish; feet flesh-color; iris chestnut-brown.' (David.) Length, 120; culmen, 11.4; wing, 68.5; tail, 54.6; tarsus, 19.

"Adult male in winter plumage.--Only differs from the summer plumage in being more olive-yellow on the head and neck, some of the feathers of the crown and hind neck being tipped with rufous-brown.

"Adult female.--Rather browner on the head than the male and not so ashy; no black on the face or chin; ear-coverts brown, streaked with yellowish shaft-lines; lores, eyelid, and an indistinct eyebrow yellowish buff; a broad cheek-stripe of pale sulphur-yellow widening out on the side of the neck; throat and under surface of body pale sulphur-yellow, olive greenish on the throat and fore neck; a distinct malar streak of dusky blackish spots; sides of body and flanks reddish brown, streaked with black; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts yellowish white.

"Old females in the breeding season become a little more ashy on the head and neck. Young birds are always browner than the adults above, and have a number of dusky spots on the throat; otherwise they greatly resemble the old females. Young females (Mus. H. Seebohm) are pale brown above, with less developed black centers on the mantle; the head brown, washed with rufous and streaked with black; under surface dull white, with only a slight tinge of sulphur-yellow on the abdomen and axillars; the throat pale olive-yellow, browner on the fore neck and chest, with brown shaft-lines. Young males in winter plumage resemble the adult female, but seem to have more dusky spots on the throat, which commences to become dusky olive in April, with blackish on the chin. Some (probably of an earlier brood) have dusky olive throats in November, but always show dusky spots." (Sharpe.)

The only known Philippine specimen of the black-faced bunting was collected by Whitehead.

699. EMBERIZA SULPHURATA Temminck and Schlegel.

JAPANESE YELLOW BUNTING.

Emberiza sulphurata Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Aves (1850), 100, pl. 60; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1888), 12, 519; Grant, Ibis (1894), 517; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 240. Emberiza sulfurata McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 104.

Calayan (McGregor); Luzon (Whitehead, McGregor, Porter). Japan, northern and central China; Formosa in winter.

Male (Calayan Island, November, 1903).--Top and sides of head and neck dusky olive-green; eyelids white; lores, subocular region, and malar stripe dusky; mantle dusky olive-green, heavily striped with black and somewhat washed with cinnamon; lower back and rump nearly uniform olive-gray; tail-coverts dark umber with olivaceous edges; under parts sulphur-yellow, brightest on chin, dusky across throat which is washed with buff, sides of breast washed with olive; abdomen and crissum pale canary-yellow; sides of body and flanks streaked with blackish brown; wing-feathers dark brown; lesser coverts olive; median and greater coverts, tertials, and some of the inner secondaries broadly edged and tipped with cinnamon-rufous or dull chestnut; remaining quills more narrowly edged with lighter cinnamon, inner webs of quills edged with drab-gray; rectrices blackish, the middle pair at least edged with olive-brown; outermost pair nearly all white, but with an oblique blackish mark near base of inner web and a small dusky mark near tip; next pair black with a long white mark near shaft. Upper mandible dusky; lower mandible bluish; legs and nails flesh-color. Length, 152; wing, 71; tail, 60; culmen from base, 10; tarsus, 19.

Female.--The winter plumage of the female is very similar to that of the male. A female from Calayan measures, wing, 65; tail, 54; culmen from base, 9.5; tarsus, 19.

"Adult male in breeding plumage.--General color greenish gray, washed with pale yellow; the head and mantle paler and more sulphur-yellow, the latter with broad mesial streaks of black; the scapulars like the mantle; the rump and lower back uniform and more distinctly ashy gray; upper tail-coverts ashy with yellowish edges; lesser wing-coverts ashy with a yellowish tinge; median and greater series blackish, edged with ashy and tipped with yellowish white, the greater coverts slightly rufescent on the outer margins; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills blackish, edged with ashy olive, the secondaries externally rufescent, the innermost with whitish margins, so as to resemble the inner greater coverts; center tail-feathers light brown, the others blackish, the outer one for the most part white, excepting a longitudinal mark along the end of the outer web and an oblique basal mark on the inner web; penultimate feather with the white much reduced and forming a large wedge-shaped mark on the inner web; the third feather with only a small white mark near the end of the inner web; ear-coverts greenish gray like the hind-neck; lores, feathers in front of the eye, and a spot at base of chin dusky blackish; feathers below the eye, cheeks, and under surface of body sulphur-yellow, paler on the lower breast and abdomen, and still lighter on the under tail-coverts, which are whitish tinged with yellow; sides of breast and flanks ashy olive, the latter streaked with black; axillars and under wing-coverts white, washed with pale yellow; quills ashy below, whitish along the edge of the inner web. Length, 133; culmen, 10; wing, 72; tail, 57; tarsus, 18.

"Considerable difference exists in the full-plumaged males with regard to the amount and intensity of the black stripes on the back. In winter the adult male appears to be always more broadly streaked with black on the back, the black centers becoming attenuated during the breeding season; the mantle is also washed with rufous like the inner secondaries.

"The adult female in breeding plumage differs but little from the male, being duller in color and rather browner on the mantle, which is very broadly streaked with black; it is further distinguished by the absence of the black lores and chin spot. Length, 120; culmen, 11.4; wing, 70; tail, 53; tarsus, 18.

"Young birds in winter plumage.--Only differ from the plumage of the adult female in being rather more olive-brown, with the rufescent edges to the feathers of the mantle and inner secondaries broad and strongly pronounced; lower back and rump uniform ashy olive; the under surface of the body is clear yellow, with a tinge of saffron-color on the throat and chest." (Sharpe.)

The Japanese yellow bunting is a somewhat abundant but inconspicuous migrant in the Philippine Islands. It was found in Calayan Island in November and in Tarlac Province, Luzon, in the month of March. It has also been taken in the vicinity of Manila.

Family PLOCEIDÆ.

Bill short and very stout, both deep and broad; culmen flat and slightly curved; outline of bill, viewed from above, kite-shaped; nostrils small and round, pierced near the frontal feathers and situated nearer to the culmen than to the cutting edges; primaries ten.

Subfamily VIDUINÆ.

First primary narrow and pointed, shorter than primary-coverts. All the Philippine members of this subfamily are of small size and social habits.

Genera.

a1. Forehead not blue; sides of breast not green.

b1. Larger; width of bill at nostril little more than one-half the culmen from base; tail slightly rounded ... Padda (p. 687) b2. Smaller; width of bill at nostril about two-thirds of culmen from base; tail wedge-shaped, the central pair of rectrices pointed.

c1. Tips of central rectrices more acute ... Munia (p. 688) c2. Tips of central rectrices pointed but less acute ... Uroloncha (p. 691)