257 



Mr. Swinhoe first observed the Lapland Bunting near Tientsin, in China, in November, and 

 on arrival at Tientsin be found thousands on sale, plucked and trussed like Larks. The natives 

 there, he states, call them Teay cheo (iron bird), and catch them in springes baited with the 

 small maggots found in decaying millet-stalks. 



It is found throughout the high northern parts of North America ; and we are indebted to 

 our friend Dr. Elliott Coues for the following excellent notes respecting its geographical distribu- 

 tion in the Nearctic Eegion : — " I have sometimes wondered how much the similarity (amounting 

 almost to identity) in the geographical distribution, migrations, and general habits of this species 

 and the Snow-Bunting has had to do with their association in the genus Plectrophanes. P. nivalis 

 certainly stands alone in the ruff of antrorse plumules covering the nostrils, so characteristic of 

 many boreal Conirostres ; its bill is differently shaped, and its pictura is wholly unique ; in fact, 

 about the only prominent character it shares with P. lapponicus and the rest is the lengthened 

 and little-curved hind claw. This is simply an accompaniment of terrestrial life, and, moreover, 

 is only an approximation towards the condition of the hind claw and its digit, as to length and 

 straightness, that P. lapponicus shows. In these genus-peddling days, however, when the 

 market is glutted, and the articles a long way below par, any two or three birds may consider 

 themselves lucky if they can hang together by the same name; and I only alluded to the subject 

 to show what a fine chance there is here to determine the difference between the north and 

 north-west side of a hair. 



" It is a much pleasanter thing to speak of the real natural history of the Lapland Longspur ; 

 and in this respect the sentence with which I began a paragraph that ended ill-humouredly gives 

 more than a hint. It may be taken as a rule that in the United States local lists giving P. 

 nivalis as ' common,' the next entry will be P. lapponicus, with the remark ' occasional,' or ' rare,' 

 or ' very rare,' or else, ' may be expected to occur in winter.' If I were asked to give in a word 

 the difference between the habitats of P. nivalis and P. lapponicus, I might be at a loss for a 

 satisfactory reply, but might say that with the same general circumpolar distribution, and the 

 same dispersion in British America, the Lapland Longspur is in the United States more restricted, 

 both in latitude and longitude. For it has not been found west of the Missouri, where it appears 

 to be replaced (more truly than P. nivalis can be said to be) by P. pictus, P. omatus, P. melanomus 

 (if different from P. omatus, which I doubt), and the singular P. maccownii ; while as to its 

 southward distribution, I can hardly say whether its seeming absence from the extremes that 

 P. nivalis attains is due to its actually not coming as far south, or to its being overlooked, in 

 consequence of its comparative scarcity. I strongly suspect that in the end we shall hear of it 

 from all the localities whence P. nivalis is quoted; but the southernmost record I have now at 

 hand for the Atlantic States is that of Mr. Lawrence, who places it in his New- York list without 

 comment (Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. viii. 1866, p. 288), and, for the interior, the Ohio quotation 

 of Mr. J. M. Wheaton's (Ohio Agric. Hep. for 1860). The New-England authorities give it, and 

 are unanimous concerning the infrequency or irregularity of its occurrence. We must place it 

 among the rarer northern visitors of the United States, where it has never been known to breed, 

 and where, probably, it has never once been taken in the perfect beauty of its nuptial plumage. 



" But you will not too hastily conclude that we have nothing more than the meagre records 

 on file. Large series of specimens that have reached our museums, illustrating all the changes 



