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PLECTROPHANES LAPPONICA— LINN. 



LAPLAND LARK BUNTING. 



Lapland Longspur, Embenza lapponica, Bonap. Syn. 



Emberiza (Plectrophanes) lapponica, Lapland Bunting, Sw. & Rich. 



Lapland Longspur, Nutt. Mmii 



Lapland Longspur, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Character — Bill dusky ; hind claw slender, very 

 acute, more arched than that of the preceding, and with the tarsi 

 longer. Adult male with the head, chin, throat, and upper part of 

 the breast velvet black, margined with white from the ears ; a 

 broad stripe of reddish-white from the upper eyelid on each side 

 joins the white bordering the ears — and there are the rudiments of 

 another in the middle of the bright chestnut nape ; rest of the up- 

 per plumage pale reddish-brown, each feather striped in the middle 

 with blackish ; coverts with two obsolete white bands; primaries 

 hair-brown ; their exterior edges whitish ; abdomen and under tail 

 coverts dusky white ; sides of the breast and flanks spotted with 

 black ; bill bright lemon-yellow, tipped with black ; legs pitch 

 black. The female differs in having the chin grayish, the black 

 plumage of the head and breast edged with pale brown and gray, 

 and the chestnut feathers of the nape fringed with dull white. In 

 winter, (which is the only season its plumage is displayed to us,) 

 the upper parts are brownish-red, the feathers broadly streaked 

 with black ; lesser coverts, secondary coverts, and all the wing 

 quills tipped with white ; sides of the crown and cheeks dusky, 

 between which passes a band of very pale reddish-brown ; throat 

 grayish- white ; sides of the neck, fore part of breast, and sides of 

 the body streaked with dusky ; rest of the lower parts grayish- 

 white. Length six inches, wing three and five-eighths. 



In the winter of 1838, several specimens of this bird were ob- 

 served in the New York markets, having been shot on Long Island 

 — but I am not aware that this species has ever before or since 

 been met with in our section. In the Middle and Eastern States 

 it is exceedingly rare, and only visits the United States in winter. 



