Buntings and New World Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Grey-necked Bunting (Emberiza buchanani) - HBW 16, p. 515

French: Bruant à cou gris German: Steinortolan Spanish: Escribano Cabecigrís
Other common names: Grey-hooded Bunting, Buchanan’s Bunting

Taxonomy: Emberiza buchanani Blyth, 1845, peninsular India.
Forms a species group with E. cineracea, E. hortulana and E. caesia. Proposed race huttoni (described from Afghanistan) has features considered to lie within range of variation of nominate, with which it is synonymized. Geographical variation somewhat clinal and variable; species sometimes treated as monotypic. Three subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

cerrutii De Filippi, 1863 - breeds from SE Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan E to W & N Iran and S Turkmenistan; assumed to winter in India.
neobscura Paynter, 1970 - breeds NE Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan E to Altai ranges, SW Mongolia and NW China (NW Xinjiang); assumed to winter in India.
buchanani Blyth, 1845 - breeds from S Uzbekistan and Pamirs of Tajikistan S to N & C Afghanistan and SW Pakistan (Baluchistan); winters over most of W India (S to Hyderabad).