312 LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 
and habits. The two species of Plectrophanes to which we 
apply the name of longspur, together with the buntings, are 
well distinguished from the finches by their upper mandible, 
contracted and narrower than the lower, their palatine tubercle, 
&c. From the typical Hmberize they differ remarkably by the 
length and straightness of their hind nail, and the form of 
their wings, which, owing to the first and second primaries 
being longest, are acute. In the true buntings, the first quill 
is shorter than the second and third, which are longest. This 
species, in all its changeable dresses, may at once be known by 
its straight and very long hind nail, which is twice as long as _ 
the toe. The bill is also stronger and longer than in the other 
species. 
The longspurs are strictly arctic birds, only descending in 
the most severe and snowy winters to less rigorous climates, 
and never to the temperate zone, except on the mountains. 
Hence they may, with the greatest propriety, be called snow 
birds. They frequent open countries, plains, and desert regions, 
never inhabiting forests. They run swiftly, advancing by suc- 
cessive steps like the lark (which they resemble in habits, 
as well as in the form of their hind nail), and not by hopping, 
like the buntings. The conformation of their wings also 
gives them superior powers of flight to their allied genera, the 
buntings and finches. Their moult appears to be double, and, 
notwithstanding Temminck’s and my own statement to the 
contrary, they differ much in their summer and winter plum- 
age. Owing to this, the species have been thoughtlessly mul- 
tiplied: there are, in reality, but two, the present, and snow- 
bunting of Wilson. 
The male Lapland longspur, in full breeding dress, is nearly 
seven inches long, and twelve and a quarter in extent ; the bill 
is nearly half an inch long, yellow, blackish at the point ; the 
irides are hazel and the feet dusky ; the head is thickly fur- 
nished with feathers ; the forepart of the neck, throat, and the 
breast are glossy black; the hind head is of a fine reddish 
rusty ; a white line arises from the base of the bill to the eye, 
