LAND BIRDS. 485 



pure white in strong contrast; wing and tail feathers plain dusky; bill and feet black; iris 

 brown. In winter the clear ash gray becomes more brownish, the white under parts de- 

 cidedly brownish gray, and the black throat and chest more or less veiled by gray tips of 

 the feathers. 



Adult female: General color brownish, darkest above, fading to brownish gray on breast 

 and sides and to soiled whitish on the belly; back, wing-coverts and tertiaries black, streaked 

 or edged with buff or rusty; usually a pale buff or whitish streak behind the eye, and the 

 middle wing-coverts tipped with buffy or wiiitish, but no clear black, white, or chestnut 

 about the head. Young birds at first resemble the females, but within two or three months 

 the young males show traces of the distinctive head markings. 



Length 5.50 to 6.25 inches; wing 2.85 to 3; tail 2.35 to 3. Female decidedly smaller 

 than male. 



218. Snow Bunting. Plectrophenax nivalis nivalis {Linn.). (534) 



Synonyms: Snowflake, Snowbird, White Snowbird. — Emberiza nivalis, Linn. 1758. 

 — Passerina nivalis, A. O. U. Committee, 1899. — Plectrophanes nivalis of most others 

 until 1882.— Plectrophenax nivalis, Stejn., 1882, A. O. U. Check-list, 1886, and most 

 recent authors. 



Males in winter are mainly white below, mottled white, black and chestnut 

 above, with the wings mainly white, but tipped with clear black. The 

 females are similar, but with brownish black replacing the clear black. 

 Toward spring the amount of brown decreases and the black and white 

 ))ecome purer and more prominent. 



Distribution. — Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, breeding 

 in the Arctic regions; in North America south in winter in the Northern 

 United States, irregularly to Georgia, southern Illinois, Kansas and Oregon. 



This well known bird is a regular winter visitor to all parts of Michigan, 

 but in much greater abundance along the shores of the Great Lakes and 

 about the mouths of the rivers, and in greater numbers some years than 

 in others. Stragglers and small squads appear in the northern counties 

 late in October; Wood took a specimen at Caseville, Huron county, Oct. 

 12, 1910, and Selous took one at Greenville as early as October 9, 1897. 

 There is also a record for Mason county as early as September 25, 1909 

 (Chaney, Auk, XXVII, 275). In the middle counties and southern parts 

 of the state it rarely appears in force before November and the largest 

 flocks, often aggregating several thousand, are most often seen after mid- 

 winter. The bird is decidedly gi'egarious and delights in flying in the 

 stormiest weather. Indeed, its appearance in numbers is often considered 

 the harbinger of snow, and during heavy snow storms it seems to be i)ai'ti('U- 

 larly active and restless. 



Its food is obtained almost entirely from the ground and consists mainly 

 of small seeds of various kinds, although Professor Aughey states that in 

 Nebraska it always eats locusts eggs when they are obtainable. Its con- 

 sumption of grass and weed seeds must be enormous, but owing to the 

 desolate character of the i-egions it frociuents, and the brevit}' of its visits 

 to farming hinds, it seems doubtful if tliis woi'k has any great economic 

 value. 



The bird has a peculiar rolling twitter or whistle which is quite character- 

 istic and very pretty. In its summer home it is said to have a very musical 

 \vai'l)I('. 



It usually I'ctires northward with the disapi)earance of snow in March 

 or early April, but a few linger for some weeks, and occasionally until tlie 

 end of April. A. li. Covert records a large flock at Cadillac on May 11, 

 18S2, but it seems moi-e likely that this was a flock of Lapland Loiigspui's. 



