266 LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 



characterized both by form and habits. The two species of Plectro- 

 pJianes, to which we apply the name of Longspur, together with the 

 Buntings, are well distinguished from the Finches by their upper man- 

 dible, contracted and narrower than the lower, their palatine tubercle, 

 &c. From the typical Eviherizce they differ remarkably by the length and 

 straightness of their hind nail, and the form of their wings, which, 

 owing to the first and second primaries being longest, are acute. In the 

 true Buntings, the first quill is shorter than the second and third, which 

 are longest. This species, in all its changeable dresses, may at once be 

 known by its'straight and very long hind nail, which is twice as long as 

 the toe. The bill is also stronger and longer than in the other species. 



The Longspurs are strictly Arctic birds, only descending in the most 

 severe and snowy winters to less rigorous climates, and never to the 

 temperate zone, except on the mountains. Hence they may with the 

 greatest propriety be called Snow-birds. They frequent open coun- 

 tries, plains, and desert regions, never inhabiting forests. They run 

 swiftly, advancing by successive steps like the Larks (which they resem- 

 ble in habits, as well as in the form of their hind nail), and not by hop- 

 ping, like the Buntings. The conformation of their wings also gives 

 them superior powders of flight to their allied genera, the Buntings and 

 Finches. Their moult appears to be double, and notwithstanding Tem- 

 minck's and my own statement to the contrary, they differ much in 

 their summer and winter plumage. Owing to this, the species have 

 been thoughtlessly multiplied: there are in reality but two, the present, 

 and Snow-Bunting of Wilson. 



The Male Lapland Longspur in full breeding dress, is nearly seven 

 inches long, and twelve and a quarter in extent ; the bill is nearly half 

 an inch long, yellow, blackish at the point ; the irides are hazel, and 

 the feet dusky. The head is thickly furnished with feathers. The 

 forepart of the neck, throat, and the breast, are glossy black ; the hind- 

 head is of a fine reddish rusty ; a white line arises from the base of the 

 bill to the eye, behind which it becomes wider, descending on the sides 

 of the neck somewhat round the breast ; the belly and vent are white ; 

 the flanks posteriorly with long blackish streaks. The back and scapu- 

 lars are brownish black, the feathers being skirted with rusty ; the 

 smaller wing coverts are blackish, margined with white, the greater 

 coverts margined with rufous, and white at tip, forming two white bands 

 across the wrings : the primaries are blackish, edged with white ; se- 

 condaries emarginated at tip, dusky, edged with rusty : the wings when 

 closed reach to three-fourths the tail. The tail is two and a half 

 inches in length, rather forked, and of a blackish color ; the outer feather 

 on each side with a white cuneiform spot ; and the outer web almost 

 entirely white ; the second with a white cuneiform spot only. The hind 

 nail is almost an inch long. 



