:,;]4 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



and black bands, more nuuieroiis spots of white on the head, etc. The inner 

 welis (it inner secondiiries are banded with white, nol nnil'orin Idaclc. The 

 niaxiUarv lihick stripe is ratlier larger than tlie rietal white one, not smaller. 

 Tiie size is decitledly smaller. Females almost always have the top ot head 

 si)otted witli white instead ot" nini'orni black, which is the ride in tor/ifnti. 



It is ])roI)able tliat the diil'ercnee in the anionnt of wlnte on llie upper 

 parts of tliis species is to some extent dne to aj;e and season, the wintei' 

 specimens and the younj^f showinj^' it to the greatest degree. Still, however, 

 there is a decided geograi)hieal relationshij), as already indicated. 



This race of J'. /ri(/i((/j//iis can be easily distingnished from tlm Enropean 

 form of Ncn-thein anil Alj)ine Europe liy the tail-feathers; of these, the outei' 

 three are white (the rest Idack) as far as e.xpo.sed, without any bands; the 

 ti}) of the third being white only at the end. The su])ra-ocular white stri})e 

 is very narrow and scarcely ai)preciable ; the erissum white and unhanded. 

 The back is banded trasisversely in one variety, striped longitudinally in the 

 i)ther. In /'. /rii/dcfi/hi.s the outer two featiiers on each side are wliite, 

 banded witli black; the outer with the liaiuls regular and eipial from base; 

 the second black, except one or two terminal liand.s. The erissum is well 

 banded with black; the back .striped longitudinally with wiiite ; the sujira- 

 oeular white stripe almost as broad as the infra-ocular. J'. rrisolrm-Uf:, of 

 Siberia, is sinular to the last, but ditfers in white erissum, and from bnih 

 species in the almost entire absence of dark liands on the .siiles, sliowing the 

 Arctic nuixinuim of white. 



We follow Sundevall in using the sjieeific name Kiiicricniiiis, Ibehm, for tliis 

 species, as being the first legitimately belonging to it. /'. /lii'sn/iis of Yieil- 

 lot, usually adopted, is based on a European liird, and agrees with it, tiiough 

 referred by the author to the American. The name of inidiiliifnx, \'ieillol, 

 selected by Cabanis, is based on liulfon's ligure i I'l. enl. 7>7u\) of a bird said 

 to lie from Cayenne, with four toes ; the whole topoi' the head red ii\)m liase 

 oi' liill to end of occi])uf, with the edges nl tiie dorsal leathers narrowly 

 wliite, and with the three lateral tail-feathers regularly banded witii black, 

 tipped with red; the fourth, banded white and lilack on outer web, tipped 

 with lilack. Xiuie of those features belong to the bird of Arctic America, 

 and the markings answer, if to either, better to the Euro])ean. 



ll.viui's. This rare and interesting species, so far as has l)een ascertained, 

 is nowhere a eonnnon or well-known bin!. It is jirobaldy exclusively ol' 

 Arctic residence, and only occasionally or very rarely is ibund .so far south as 

 Mas.sachusetts. In the winlei of 1S;>() I found a .s])ecinien exposed for sale 

 in the IJoston market, which was sent in alcohol to Air. Audubon. Two 

 s])ecimens have been taken in Lynn, by Mr. Welch, in 18()S. They occur, 

 al.-;o, ill Southern Wisconsin in the winter, where Air. Kundien has several 

 times, in successive winters, obtained single indivitliials. 



Sir John IJichard.xon states that this bird is to be met witli in all tiic 

 forests of spruce and fir lying between Luke Superior and the Arctic fcJeu, ani.1 



