of the United States. 103 



Live in pairs or in small families. Feed on farinaceous 

 seeds and sometimes insects, which they kill with their bill 

 previously to swallowing them. Build in low bushes and 

 grass ; breed several times a year ; eggs, 4 — 6. Song 

 limited. 



Widely spread in temperate countries* 



SUBGENUS PLECTROPHANES. 



Genus Plectrophanes, Meyer. 



Hind nail long and almost straight. Palatine tubercle ob- 

 tuse, not very conspicuous. First and second primaries 

 longest. 



Though moulting but once a year, differ much in plumage 

 from season, owing to the tips of the feathers wearing away. 



Live in open countries, plains, mountains, and desert re- 

 gions, never in forests or thickets. Run rapidly. Resemble 

 Alauda by the hind nail and habits: connect Emberiza with 

 Fringilla, by Spiza. 



159. Emberiza nivalis, L. Primaries white, six outer ones 

 exteriorly black ; tail black, three lateral feathers white at 

 base. 



Male in full dress, head, neck, and beneath white. 



Female, young, and male in winter dress, the white parts 

 tinged with rufous. 



Snow-bunting, Emberiza nivalis, Wils. Am. Orn. Hi. p. 3G. 

 pi. 21. fig. 2. female in winter dress. 



Inhabits northern regions of both continents, to the pole ; 

 breeds in the arctic circle ; rare, and wintering only in the 

 middle states. 



33. TANAGRA. 



Tanagra, L. Gm. Lath. III. Cuv. Temm. Ranz. Tangara, 

 Briss. Nemosia, Tanagra, Saltator, Rampkocelus, Pyranga. 

 Tachyphonus, VieiU. 



