310 LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 
ranked among the birds of this country from the fact that a 
few stragglers out of the numerous bands which descend in 
winter to comparatively warm latitudes show themselves 
almost every year in the higher unsettled parts of Maine, 
Michigan, and the north-western territory. Hven larger flocks 
are known not unfrequently to enter the territory of the 
Union, where, contrary to what is generally supposed, they 
are observed to alight on trees, as well as on the ground, 
notwithstanding their Jong and straight hind nail. We 
think it highly probable that some individuals, especially in 
their youth, visit in cold winters the mountainous districts of 
the middle States, as they are well known in Europe to 
wander or stray to the more temperate climates of Germany, 
France, England, and especially Switzerland; in all which 
countries, however, the old birds are never seen. It is not 
extraordinary that they should never have been observed in 
the Atlantic States, as they are nowhere found in maritime 
countries. 
No figure of the adult male in perfect plumage has before 
now, we believe, been given; and no representation at all is 
to be met with in the more generally accessible books or 
collections of plates. Mr Selby has lately published a figure 
of the young in the Linnean Transactions and it will also, — 
we presume, appear in his splendid work, which yields to 
none but Naumann’s, Wolf's, and Wilson’s, in point of accuracy 
and character. ‘That recorded by him appears to be the first 
instance of an individual having been found in Britain. The 
species is common in the hilly districts of eastern Europe, 
but is chiefly confined within the polar circle, though found 
abundantly in all the northern mountainous districts of 
Europe and Asia, particularly Siberia and Lapland. It is 
sometimes known to descend in autumn and winter, and, 
though very rarely, in spring, either singly and astray, or 
in immense clouds, into the north and middle of Germany. 
Great numbers were seen in the neighbourhood of Frankfort 
on the Main in the middle of November 1821. In France, 
