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BIBDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
Genus PLECTROPHENAX Stejnegek. 
Plectrophenax nivalis (Linn.). 
Snowflake ; Sjlow Bunting ; White Snow-bird. 
Description {Plate 94 .). 
Length about 7 inches ; extent about 12| ; legs black. 
^ Adult in winter -plumage . — Bill brownish-yellow, darker at point; upper parts 
generally brownish and blackish ; central tail feathers and most of the primaries for 
about half their length towards ends, blackish ; under surface of wings, most of sec- 
ondaries, and lateral tail feathers chiefly white. Under parts chiefly white, sides of 
head and chest are more or less distinctly marked with rusty. The female is smaller 
than male and has less white on wing. 
Habitat . — Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, breeding in the Arctic re- 
gions ; in North America, south in winter into the northern United States, irregu- 
larly to Georgia, southern Illinois and Kansas. 
This beautiful bird, readily recognized by its white and rusty plum- 
age occurs in Pennsylvania only as an occasional winter visitant, except 
in the region about Lake Erie, where Mr. Sennett, and other observers 
assure me it is found as a regular winter sojourner. In 1889, Mr. Geo. 
Pussell, of Erie city, killed one of these birds as early as the 12th of 
October, at the bay, where I observed this species in hocks of two hun- 
dred or more, in November and December of the same year. When 
noted in the other parts of the state Snowflakes are usually seen 
in flocks, which sometimes contain one, two or three hundred each. 
The Snow Bunting, during its stay in this region, subsists mainly on 
seeds of various weeds, grasses, etc., which it finds in fields and meadows. 
Genus CALCARIUS Bechstein. 
Calcarius lapponicus (Linn.). 
Lapland Longspur. 
Description. 
Bill moderate ; hind claw straightish with its digit longer than the middle toe and 
claw. 
Adult male . — Head and throat jet black, bordered with buffyor whitish, which 
forms a postocular line separating the black of the crown from that of the sides of 
the head ; a broad chestnut cervical collar ; upper parts in general blackish, streaked 
with bufl'y or whitish on edges of all the feathers ; below whitish, the breast and 
sides streaked with black ; wings duskj'', the greater coverts and inner secondaries 
edged with dull bay ; tail, dusky, with an oblique white area on the outer feathers ; 
bill yellowish, tipped with black; legs and feet black. Winter, males show less 
black on head and the cervical chestnut duller ; the lemale and young have no con- 
tinuous black on head, and the crown is streaked like the back, and there are faint 
traces of the cervical collar. Length about 6| ; extent about \\\ inches. — Coues. 
* In summer or breeding dress the adults, particularly the males, are pure white, the back, wings and tail 
variegated with black. Bill black. The female is quite similar, but has a little more brownish. 
