DIKECTORY TO BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 2123 



Mexico; accidental in migration in N. Y., S. C, and Mass. 



Song, sweet and varied as the bird hovers in air. Gregarious 



excepting when breeding. Flight, swift, strong and direct. 



o. Snow Buiiting-s. Passerina. 



Good-sized, ground-inhabiting sparrows with very long, 

 pointed wings, moderately long, square tails, and small bills; 

 black and white ; hind toe nail long. 



1. SNOW BUNTING, P. nivalis. 6.65; white; back, 

 middle wing and tail, black; bill, orange, fig. 294; in winter 

 and young, tinged with reddish. Breeds in Arctic and sub- 

 Arctic regions from northern Labrador northward; in N. A. 

 migrating south in winter regularly to N. E., more rarely as 

 far south as Ga. ; south in Oct. ; north in April. Gregarious 

 in winter, frequenting the sand Fig. 294. 



dunes of the coast and open 

 fields of the interior; flight, 

 strong and swift, but very erra- 

 tic ; run swiftly on the ground ; 

 restless, flying often from 

 place to place. Song, a sweet 

 warble, given while hovering, ^^^^ 

 seldom heard off the breeding ^ 

 grounds; in winter, a sweet sin- CC, F, O, 1. 1-4. 

 gle or double note, less often a quite melodious trill and a 

 kind of chirring sound, all given when on the wing. 



p. L.on§rspurs. Calcariiis. 



Differ from o in having the color more varied, black, 

 white and chestnut, streaked above; hind toe nail, longer. 



1. LAPLAND LONGSPUR, C. lapponicus. 6.10; 

 dark-brown above streaked with buffy and chestnut ; a dis- 

 tinct chestnut collar; buffy-white beneath ; throat and spots 

 on sides, black ; sides, tinged with reddish ; outer tail feath- 

 ers with terminal spot of white, fig. 295. Female and young 

 differ in having the back much obscured by whitish ; duller. 



