WHITE-CROWNED BUNTING. 295 
WHITE-CROWNED BUNTING.—EMBERIZA LEUCOPHRYS. 
— Fic. 148. 
Turton, Syst. p. 536.— Peale’s Museum, No. 6587. 
} 
ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS. —Swainson. 
Fringilla leucophrys, Bonap. Ryne oi ei (Zonotrichia) leucophrys, 
ruil. Ol. ile P- le . 
Tus beautifully-marked species is one of the rarest of its tribe in 
the United States, being chiefly confined to the northern districts, or 
higher interior parts of the country, except in severe winters, when 
some few wanderers appear’ in the lower parts of the state of Pennsyl- 
vania. Of three specimens of this bird, the only ones I have yet met 
with, the first was caught in a trap near the city of New York, and 
lived with me several months. It had no song, and, as'I afterwards 
discovered, was a female. Another, a male, was presented to me 
by Mr. Michael of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The third, a male, and 
, in complete plumage, was shot in the Great Pine Swamp, in the month 
of May, and is faithfully represented in Fig. 143. It appeared to me 
to be unsuspicious, silent, and solitary ; flitting in short flights among 
the underwood and _piles of prostrate trees, torn up by a tornado, that 
some years/ago passed through the swamp. All my endeavors to dis- 
cover the female or nest were unsuccessful. F 
From the great scarcity of this, species, our acquaintance with its 
manners is but very limited. Those persons who have resided near 
Hudson’s Bay, where it is common, inform us, that it makes its nest 
in June, at the bottom of willows, and lays four chocolate-colored eggs. 
Its flight is said to be short and silent; but, when it perches,’ it sings 
very melodiously.* ‘ 
The White-crowned Bunting is seven inches long, and ten inches 
in extent; the bill, a cinnamon brown; crown, from the front to the 
hind head, pure white, bounded on each side by a stripe of black 
proceeding from each nostril; and these again are bordered by a stripe 
of pure white passing over each eye to the hind head, where they 
meet ; below this, another narrow stripe of black passes from the pos- 
terior angle of the eye, widening as it descends to the hind head; chin, 
white ; breast, sides of the neck, and upper parts of the same, very 
pale ash; back, streaked laterally with dark rusty brown and pale 
bluish white; wings, dusky, edged broadly with brown; the greater 
and lesser coverts tipped broadly with white, forming two handsome 
bands across the wing; tertials, black, edged with brown and white ; 
rump and tail-coverts, drab, tipped with a lighter, tint; tail, long, 
rounded, dusky, and edged broadly with drab ; belly, white ; vent, pale 
yellow ochre ; Jegs and feet, reddish brown ; eye, reddish hazel ; lower 
eyelid, white. ‘ 
The female may easily be distinguished from the male, by the white 
* Arctic Zodlory. 
