LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 
123 
Sever been misplaced. It has even the palatine knob 
. Ernberiza , and much more distinctly marked than 
111 the snow bunting ( Emberiza nivalis.') It has been 
? rr oneously placed in Fringilla , merely on account ot 
hill being somewhat wider and more conic. 
Mhyer has lately proposed for the two just mentioned 
^'; lr ly allied species, a new genus under the name 
, ec trophanes, (corresponding to the English name we 
" av <-“ used.) This we have adopted as a subgenus, and 
f < ; almost inclined to admit as an independent genus 
, ln ',' well characterized both by form and habits. The 
"'° species of Plectrophanes, to which we apply the 
{?' of longspur, together with the buntings, are well 
,. lstit >guished from the finches by their upper mandible, 
detracted and narrower than the lower, their palatine 
"berele, &c. From the typical Emberiza they differ 
1 ^arkably by the length and straightness of their hind 
and the form of their wings, which, owing to the 
and second primaries being longest, are acute. 
' n the true buntings, the first quill is shorter than the 
,®Ond an d third, which are longest. This species, in 
* ‘Is changeable dresses, may at once he known by its 
_waigbt and very long hind nail, which is twice as long 
• s the toe. The bill is also stronger and longer than 
the 
other 
uuier species. 
j. the longspurs are strictly Arctic birds, only descend- 
j.* in the most severe and snowv winters to less 
iwous climates, and never to the temperate zone, 
‘•ept on the mountains. Hence they may with the 
^atest propriety be called snow birds. They frequent 
. P*;n countries, plains, and desert regions, never mha- 
tln g forests. They run swiftly, advancing by successive 
'** like the larks, (which they resemble in habits, as 
i I>| 1 as in the form of their hind nail,) and not by 
upping, ljk c tbe bunting’s. The conformation ot their 
nl }?g8 also n-iyes them superior powers of flight to their 
4 genera, the huntings and flnehes. Tlietr moult 
appears to he double, and, notwithstanding Temminck s 
i' u| 'ny own statement to the contrary, they differ much 
th eir summer and winter plumage. Owing to this. 
