THE LAPLAND BUNTING. 123 



Family FRINGILLIDsE. Subfamily E MB ERIZIN& . 



THE LAPLAND BUNTING 



Calcarius lapponitus, L/INN. 



"TNHABITS the greater part of the circumpolar regions, with the exception of 

 J. Iceland to which it is only an occasional straggler from Greenland and 

 Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, whence it has not yet been recorded. It is only 

 at considerable elevations, such as the Dovre-fjeld, in Norway, that it is found 

 breeding to the south of the Arctic circle ; but east of the North Cape it is 

 common in Lapland, while in Northern Siberia it is extremely abundant, being, 

 according to Mr. Seebohm, not only the commonest, but also the most widely 

 distributed bird on the tundras. In Asia it migrates further southwards than in 

 Europe, reaching to about 30 N. lat. in China ; whereas it is rare in the south 

 of Russia and in Northern Italy, and as yet unknown in Spain. In Central 

 Europe its occurrences are accidental, but further north they are naturally more 

 frequent, and are regular on Heligoland in autumn. In America this species 

 breeds throughout the far north ; wintering in South Carolina, Kansas, and 

 Colorado." (Howard Saunders, Manual of British Birds, pp. 213-214). 



To Great Britain this species is an occasional, though not very infrequent 

 visitor ; upwards of forty examples apparently having been obtained previous to 

 1890, since Selby first recognized the bird, amongst some Larks forwarded to 

 Leadenhall Market from Cambridgeshire, early in 1826. Since 1890 this species 

 has visited us more frequently. In October and November, 1892, J. H. Gurney 

 stated that at least fifty-six were netted and shot in Norfolk. In the following 

 year considerable numbers were seen on the Lincolnshire coast, a good many were 

 recorded as having passed along the downs in February. In November of the 

 same year a flock of from sixty to eighty was seen near Flamborough by Matthew 

 Bailey, and later a flock of from a hundred to a hundred and twenty by J. Cordeaux. 

 Finally, in the Zoologist for 1894, the Rev. H. A. Macpherson stated that in the 

 southern counties a few had been taken annually for the past dozen years near 

 Dover, but that in November, 1893, only three were caught near Brighton. 



The male in breeding-plumage has the head, including the throat, and the 

 breast velvety-black ; a broad white superciliary stripe extends backwards over the 



