Snow-Bunting 349 



in Salt Lake City in 1871, but does not appear to have been 

 noticed in Colorado till 1895, when it was seen for the first time on 

 February 20th, at Pueblo, by Lowe ; it is said to have reached Denver 

 in the summer of 1896, and there is an example from Colorado Springs 

 in the Aiken collection, obtained on 18th October of that year ; 

 Henderson first noticed it at Boulder in 1898 ; on the western slope 

 of the range it was noticed at Grand Junction in the fall of 1899. 



At the present time it is spread all over the country up to about 

 9,500 feet, at which elevation it has been noticed by Warren at Jefferson, 

 but it is stated by Keyser not to be found in Leadville (10,200 feet), 

 though I have myself seen it at Cripple Creek and Victor (9,500 to 9,800 

 feet). It swarms in Colorado Springs, Denver and Durango and in all 

 the sm.aller towns, and is also found about isolated ranches and places 

 like Springfield and Coventry (Warren 06 and 09), which are far from 

 the railway. 



In Colorado Springs it lives side by side with the House-Finch which 

 manages to hold its own, although I am told it has driven away to a 

 great extent the Bluebirds and House-Wrens which were formerly to 

 be seen about the town. 



Genus PLECTROPHENAX. 



Terrestrial Finches of moderate size — wing 4 to 5 — with a small, 

 delicate bill in which the lower nriandible is rather deeper than the upper 

 vertically ; nostrils concealed by nasal bristles ; wing very long and 

 pointed, falling short of the tip of the tail by about half the length of 

 the tarsus ; tail short, about -6 of wing ; hind claw lengthened, about 

 equal to its digit, less curved than the others, but not straight. Plumage 

 white and black in svmamer ; in winter overlaid with tawny edgings 

 which wear off in spring. 



The Snowflakes or Snow-Buntings are circumpolar birds, breeding 

 in the arctic and subarctic Regions and moving south in winter ; only 

 the best known species occur in Colorado. 



Snow-Bunting. Plectrophenax nivalis. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 534 — Colorado Records — Ridgway 73, p. 182 ; 

 Morrison 88, p. 74 ; 89, p. 36 ; Cooke 97, pp. 100, 165, 214 ; Henderson 

 03, p. 236 ; 09, p. 236. 



Description.- — Male in winter — Crown and nape, ear-coverts, and a 

 coUar across the chest pale rufous-brown, darkest on the forehead ; 

 back the same, streaked with dusky ; wings dusky, middle and greater- 

 coverts tipped, remiges edged with white, inner secondaries with rufous- 

 brown ; lateral tail-feathers chiefly white, rest dusky ; below, except 

 the collar, pure white ; bill yellow. Length 6-1 ; wing 4-0 ; tail 2-5 ; 

 culmen 40 ; tarsus •90. 



