FRINGILLIDH, FINCHES, ETC. —GEN. 63. 133 
Var. MEXICANA, with the upper parts continuously black, and the black of the 
crown extending below the eyes, enclosing the olive under eye-lid. Mexican 
border and southward. Bp., 423; Coop., 
169. This bird looks quite unlike typical : ASN 
psaltria, but the gradation through var. QA 
arizone is perfect; and mexicana, more- 
over, leads directly into var. columbiana, a 
Central American form in which the tail- 
spots are very small or wanting. The 
females of these several varieties cannot be 
distinguished with certainty. 
Oss. Chrysomitris magellanica, a South 
American species with the whole head black, 
is said by Audubon to have been taken in 
Kentucky, where probably it will not be found again. Chrysomitris stanleyi and 
C. yarrellii, of Audubon, were apparently cage-birds, improperly attributed to 
North America. 
Fig. 80. Mexican Goldfinch. 
63. Genus PLECTROPHANES Meyer. 
* Bill small, truly conic, ruffed at base; hind claw decidedly curved. 
Snow Bunting. Snowflake. In breeding plumage, pure white, the back, 
wings and tail variegated with black ; bill and feet black. As generally seen 
in the United States, the white is clouded with clear, warm brown, and the 
bill is brownish. Length about 7; wing 443 tail 23. Arctic America, 
irregularly southward, in flocks, in the winter, to about 85°; but its move- 
ments depend much on the weather. WAILs., iii, 
86, pl. 21; Nurr., i, 458; Aup., iii, 55, pl. 155; 
BOR RAO ORME eeifete fo 8 ok ars ce Ne SNIVALISS 
** Bill moderate, unruffed, but with a little tuft of 
feathers at the base of the rictus; hind claw straight- 
ish, with its digit longer than the middle toe and claw. 
Sexes dissimilar; ¢ with a cervical collar, and oblique white area on the outer tail 
feathers; 9 resembling some of the streaked sparrows. (Centrophanes.) 
hp 
Fic. 81. Foot in Centrophanes. 
Lapland Longspur. Adult g : whole head and throat jet black bordered 
with buffy or whitish which forms a postocular line separating the black of 
the crown from that of the sides of the head; a broad chestnut cervical 
collar; upper parts in general blackish streaked with buffy or whitish that 
edges all the feathers; below, whitish, the breast and sides black-streaked ; 
wings dusky, the greater coverts and inner secondaries edged with dull bay ; 
tail dusky with white areas as above mentioned; bill yellowish tipped with 
black, legs and feet black. 6-64; wing 3}-33; tail 24-23. Winter males 
show less black on the head, and the cervical chestnut duller; the 9@ and 
young have no continuous black on the head, and the crown is streaked like 
the back; but there are traces of the cervical collar, whilst the generic char- 
acters will prevent confusion with any of the ordinary streaked sparrows. 
Arctic America, irregularly southward into the United States in winter, fre- 
