“Nestling.—Yellowish buff, broadly streaked with black, the head more rufous, and the ear-coverts rufous; underneath white, washed with rufous on the chin and with ochraceous-buff on the throat and breast, thickly streaked with black on the latter as well as on the flanks and sides of the body; wings and tail as in adults, with the exception that the wing-coverts are more fulvous at tips.” (Sharpe.)

Whitehead collected the only specimen of the little bunting which has been recorded from the Philippine Islands.

698. EMBERIZA SPODOCEPHALA Pallas.
BLACK-FACED BUNTING.

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.)