466 EMBERIZID A. 
Tue Lapiano Buntine, though a native, as its name 
imports, of the most northern parts of Europe, and even of 
the Arctic Regions, has yet been taken on five different 
occasions in this country. The first was obtained in the 
London market, and was for some years in the possession 
of N. A. Vigors, Esq. M.P. passing afterwards, with his 
whole collection, by gift, to the Museum of the Zoological 
Society. The second was taken on the downs near Brigh- 
ton, and is in my own collection. The third was taken a 
few miles north of London, and its capture made known by 
Mr. Gould. The fourth, caught near Preston m Lanca- 
shire, was selected from among a variety of other small 
birds in Manchester market, and is now preserved in the 
Manchester Museum. Each of these four examples ex- 
hibited the plumage of the least conspicuous bird in the 
back ground of the plate here given. 
On the last day of September 1844, a fine adult male 
was caught in a net with some larks on the downs near 
Brighton: this specimen I have seen in the possession of 
Mr. William Borrer, jun.; it is in the plumage of summer 
as represented in the lower figure, but undergoing a slight 
change from the advance of the season. 
Systematic writers in ornithology at the present day ap- 
pear to agree that the natural situation of the species of 
the genus Plectrophanes of Meyer, is between the true Larks 
and the true Buntings: with several characters by which 
they are allied to the Buntings, the difference in the struc- 
ture of the wing, their straight hind claw, their terrestrial 
habits, and their mode of progression on the ground by 
steps, and not by hopping, indicate their connexion with 
the Larks, in the nets with which all the five examples 
here recorded were caught in this country. M.Temminck, 
it will be observed by the quotation at the head of this 
