154 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Ornithologists' Union, Check List, 1886, no. 535. — Townsbnd, Cruise " Cor- 

 win", 1885, 1887, 100, colored plate (Hall I.). — Henshaw, in Nelson's 

 Rep. Nat. Hist. Coll. Alaska, 1887, 182 (St. Michaels, Nushagak, Hall I., etc., 

 Alaska). — Shakpe, Cat. Birds Brit. ]Mus., xii, 1888, 577. — Stone, Auk, xv, 

 1898, 269 (Bethel, Kuskokwim K., Alaska, 90 m. from coast, Jan. 4). 



P. [ledrophencm] hyperboreiis Eidgway, Man. N. Am. Birds, 1887, 403. 



Passerlna hi/jKrhorca Ridgway, Auk, xv, Oct., 1898, 324. — American Ornii'holc- 

 gists' Union Committee, Auk, xvi, 1899, 117. 



Genus CALCARIUS Bechstein. 



Calcarius Bechstein, Orn. Taschenb. Vog. Deutschl., 1803, 130. (Type, Frin- 



gilla lapponica Linnaeus. ) (See Stejneger, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., v, 1882, 32. ) 

 Plectrophanes (not of Kaup, 1829) JIeyer, Vog. Liv-u. Estl., 1815, p. xii. (Type, 



Fringilla lapponica Linnseus. ) 

 Cenirophanes Kaup, Entw. Eur. Thierw., 1829, 158. (Type, Fringilla lapponica 



Linnaeus.) 

 Leptoplectron Reichenbach, Av. Sy.st. Nat., 1850, pi. 75. (Type, Emberiza picta 



Swainson. ) 



Medium-sized or rather small terrestrial finches, with long, pointed 

 wings, small bill, long and slender hind claw, and plumage much varied. 



Bill small (commissure shorter than middle toe without claw), acutely 

 conical, deeper than broad at base; culmen nearly straight, sometiaies 

 appreciably depressed in middle portion; gonys straight, shorter than 

 hallux without claw, its base about midway between tip and lateral 

 base of the mandible; depth of bill at base decidedly less than distance 

 from nostril to tip of maxilla. Nasal plumules indistinct, the nostrils 

 quite exposed. Wing long (about four and one-third to more than four 

 and one-half times as long as tarsus), pointed (three outermost prima- 

 ries longest, with the ninth longer than the sixth, sometimes longer 

 than the eighth); primaries exceeding secondaries by one and one- 

 quarter to one and one-half times length of tarsus; tips of secondaries 

 emarginate. Tail more than two-thirds as long as wing, double- 

 rounded or deeply emarginate {ornatus), more than half hidden by the 

 pointed upper coverts. Tarsus nearly or quite one-third as long as 

 tail, longer than middle toe with claw, its scutella nearl}' obsolete; 

 lateral claws scarcely or not reaching base of middle claw; hind claw 

 nearly equal to — sometimes longer than — its digit, very slender, slightly 

 arched or nearly straight. 



Coloration. — Adult males with top of head black; hindneck deep 

 rufous or buff; rest of upper parts light brownish, broadly streaked 

 with dusky or black; outer tail-feathers with more or less of white. 

 Adult females similar above to males, but without black on head, 

 and usually without distinct rufous or buff on hindneck; lower parts 

 mainly dull whitish or buffy. 



The three species of Calcarius differ considerably in details of form. 

 C. ficiMS is very similar to the type species, C. lajpj>oniGm, but has a 



