50 



LAPLAND LARK -BUNTING. 



Plectrophanes lapponica, Linn. 



PLATE CLII. — Male in Summer, in Winter, and Female. 



My first acquaintance with this species took place on the 15th of February, 

 1819. Walking with my wife, on the afternoon of that day, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Henderson, in Kentucky, I saw immense flocks scattered over 

 the open grounds on the elevated grassy banks of the Ohio. Having my 

 gun with me, as usual, I procured more than sixty in a few minutes. All 

 the youths of the village turned out on this occasion, and a relative of mine, 

 in the course of the next day, killed about six hundred. Although in rather 

 poor condition, we found them excellent eating. Three days after they 

 disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived, for although on the previous 

 evening they seemed as numerous as ever, none but wounded birds were to 

 be seen in the morning. Whilst at Shippingport, near Louisville, in the 

 same State, I found a good number of these birds on the commons, feeding 

 in company with Shore Larks and Snow Buntings, and obtained some 

 dozens. Among all the specimens which I procured in that part of the 

 country, none were in perfect or summer plumage, most of them being in 

 the garb of the male, as represented by the second figure of my plate. 



In their movements they resemble the Snow Bunting. They run and 

 hop on the ground with ease and celerity, many making towards a tuft of 

 withered grass at the same time, to search for the few seeds that may yet be 

 procured around or beneath it, and all the while uttering a repetition of 

 chirps, in a rather low and plaintive accent. When on wing, to which they 

 resorted after each discharge of the gun, or when nearly approached, they 

 formed into compact bodies, wheeled and cut to and fro through the air, now 

 high, now low, in the manner of Larks, alighting suddenly, and perhaps 

 immediately flying off again to renew their curious evolutions. At times 

 flocks composed of hundreds would settle on the top-rails of fences, or on 

 the lower large branches of the trees in the fields; but on such occasions 

 they appeared as much discontented as the Snow Buntings are, when they 

 also alight on trees, fences, or houses. 



The Lapland Longspur visits the neighbourhood of Louisville in Ken- 

 tucky almost every year, but seldom appears when the weather is not 

 intensely cold. I found it also in the vicinity of St. Genevieve in Missouri; 



