SPECIES 7. EMBERIZA LEUCOPHRYS, 
WHITE-CROWNED BUNTING. 
[Plate XXXI.— Fig. 4.] 
'ruuTON, Syst. p. 536. — Peale’s Museum, JYo, 6587.* 
This beautifully marked species is one of the rarest of its tribe 
in the United States, being chiefly confined to the northern dis- 
tricts, or higher interior parts of the country, except in severe 
winters, when some few wanderers appear in the lower parts 
of the state of Pennsylvania. Of three specimens of this bird, 
the only ones I have yet met with, the first was caught in a trap 
near the city of New York, and lived with me several months. 
It had no song, and, as I afterwards discovered, was a female. 
Another, a male, was presented to me by Mr. Michael, of Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania. The third, a male, and in complete plu- 
mage, was shot in the Great Pine swamp, in the month of May, 
and is faithfully represented in the plate. It appeared to me to 
be unsuspicious, silent and solitary; flitting in short flights 
among the underwood and piles of prostrate trees torn up by a 
tornado, that some years ago passed through the swamp. All 
my endeavours to discover the female or nest were unsuccessful. 
F rom the great scarcity of this species our acquaintance with 
its manners is but very limited. Those persons who have resi- 
ded near Hudson’s bay , where it is common, inform us, that it 
makes its nest in June, at the bottom of willows, and lays four 
chocolate-coloured eggs. Its flight is said to be short and silent; 
but when it perches it sings very melodiously.! 
♦ Synonymes: — Emberiza leucophrys, Gmel. Syst. i, p. 874. — Lath. Syn. iii, 
p. 200. 44. Td. Sup. p. 159. — Id. Ind. j, p. 413. — White-Crowned Bunting. 
Arct. Zool. ir, J^o. 22. 
I Arct. Zool. 
