240 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



The two known species of this genus are essentially boreal, one of 

 them, so far as known, being confined to the vicinity of Bering 

 Sea, while the other is quite circumpolar. They are ground birds, 

 collecting in large flocks, hi autumn and winter, on tundra and 

 plains, one of the species passing far to the southward. The re- 

 cently discovered P. hyperboreus,* is distinguished by its much whiter 

 coloration, only the tips of the quill-feathers and small spots near 

 the end of the middle tail-feathers being black in the adult male. 



Plectrophenax nivalis (Linn.) 



SNOWFLAKE. 



Popular synonyms. White Snowbird; Snow Bunting. 



JEmberiza nivalis LINN. S. N. ed. 10, i, 1758, 176; ed. 12. i, 1766 308.-WiLS. Am. Orn. 111,1811. 



86, pi. 21, fig. 2.-NUTT. Man. i. 1832, 458. A UD. Orn. Biog. ii. 1834,515; v,496, pi. 189. 

 Plectrophanes nivalis MEYEB. AUD. Synop. 1839.99; B. Am. iii. 1841, 55, pi. 155. BAIED, 

 B. N. Am. 1858, 432; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 325. COUES. Key, 1872, 133; Check List. 

 1873. No. 152; 2d ed. 1882, No. 219; B. N. W. 1874. 118.-B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. i, 1874. 

 512.pl. 24, flg. 2. KIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 186. 

 Plfctrophenax nivalis STEJN. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 33. 



HAB. Northern North America, south in winter, to northern United States (very 

 irregularly beyond 40, but Quoted from Georgia, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Kansas, 

 etc.). Also found throughout the arctic and subarctic portions of the Old World. 



"Sp. CHAK. Male. Colors, in spring plumage, entirely black and white. Middle of 

 back between scapulars, terminal half of primaries and tertiaries.and two innermost tail- 

 feathers, black ; elsewhere pure white. Legs black at all seasons. In winter dress, white 

 beneath; the head and rump yellowish brown, as also some blotches on the side of the 

 breast; middle of back brown, streaked with black; white on wings and tail much more 

 restricted. Length about 6.75; wings, 4.35; tail, 3.C5; first quill longest. Female. Spring, 

 continuous white beneath only; above entirely streaked, the feathers having blackish 

 centres and whitish edges; the black streaks predominate on the back and crown. 

 Young. Light gray above, with obsolete dusky streaks on the back; throat and jugulum 

 paler gray, the latter with obsolete streaks; rest of lower parts dull white. Wing- 

 coverts, secondaries and tail-feathers broadly edged with light ochraceous brown." 

 (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



Although the "White Snowbird" or "Snowflake" is said to be an 

 abundant winter resident of the northern portion of the State, it is 

 so very rare in the more southern districts that the writer has seen 

 there but a single specimen, the locality being Mount Carmel, and 

 the date forgotten, but sometime during the early part of 1864 or 

 1865. 



Mr. Nelson's notes on its occurrence in northeastern Illinois (Bull. 

 Essex Inst., Vol. VIII., 1876, p. 105) are as follows : 



See Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. vii.1884,68. 



