486 Considerations pertaining to Classification. 



merit, has not, it appears to me, selected an apposite example 

 of that subordinancy of groups for which he contends, in 

 adducing, in p. 387., Plectrophanes Meyer as so decidedly 

 subordinate to Emberiza L. It is in the museum only that 

 these two groups so strikingly assimilate; the living Plectro- 

 phanes resembles much more closely the lark genus, Alnuda. 

 Indeed, with the exception of the beak, which is certainly of 

 the true and peculiar bunting form, there is really no resem- 

 blance whatever between Plectrophanes and Emberiza. It 

 would, however, be almost superfluous to add a single word 

 to the admirable remarks, on this subject, of that excellent 

 ornithologist Mr. Selby ; and it is perfectly indispensable that 

 they be read in connection with this question. Mr. Selby 

 has founded his remarks on the affinities of the genus Plec- 

 trophanes upon the two then known species ; but, since he 

 wrote, the P. picta Swainson, from the banks of the Saskatche- 

 wan, has been added ; and the .Fringilla gram mica Say has, 

 by Sir William Jardine, been also placed, but with a mark 

 of doubt, in this genus. 



Mr. Selby, in addition to his contradistinction of the tech- 

 nical characteristics of the birds of the genera in question, 

 contrasts also their " habits and manners ; " and, on the latter 

 subject, we may gain some farther information from C. L. 

 Bonaparte, who, in his description of the Plectrophanes 

 lapponica, has remarked that they " live in large flocks ; and 

 are of so social a disposition, that, when separated from their 

 own species, or when in small parties, they always join com- 

 pany with the common lark of Europe ; or, in America, with 

 some of the different snow birds ; " and that " the Lapland 

 longspur, like the larks, never sings but suspended aloft in 

 the air, at which time it utters a few agreeable and melodious 

 notes." The latter author, however, makes one observation 

 that will serve to qualify Mr. Selby's remark that they " never 

 perch." " Contrary to what is generally supposed," says 

 C. L. Bonaparte, " they are observed to alight on trees as 

 well as on the ground, notwithstanding their long and straight 

 hind nail." It is here worthy of being noticed, that not one 

 of the many authors who have described these birds mentions 

 a single point of resemblance between them and the Em- 

 beriza, except in the one instance of the form of the bill ; 

 which latter, however, would seem to intimate a resemblance 

 in the nature of their food. The general habits, the song, 

 the mode of progression of the longspurs, all are totally at 

 variance with those of the buntings; and are all as strikingly 

 in accordance with those of the larks. It would therefore, 

 perhaps, be more proper to say that Plectrophanes agrees 



