103 
of the United States . 
Live in pairs or in small families. Feed on farinaceous 
seeds and sometimes insects, which they kill with their bill 
previously to swallowing them. Build in low bushes and 
grass ; breed several times a year ; eggs, 4—6. Song 
limited. 
Widely spread in temperate countries. 
SUBGENUS PLECTROPHANES. 
Genus Plectrophanes , Meyer. 
Hind nail long and almost straight. Palatine tubercle ob- 
tuse, not very conspicuous. First and second primaries 
longest. 
Though moulting but once a year, differ much in plumage 
from season, owing to the tips of the feathers wearing away. 
Live in open countries, plains, mountains, and desert re- 
gions, never in forests or thickets. Run rapidly. Resemble 
Alauda by the hind nail and habits : connect Emberiza with 
Fringilla, by Spiza. ? 
159. Emberiza nivalis, L. Primaries white, six outer ones 
exteriorly black ; tail black, three lateral feathers white at 
base. 
Male in full dress, head, neck, and beneath white. 
Female, young, and male in winter dress, the white parts 
tinged with rufous. 
Snow-bunting , Emberiza nivalis , Wils. Am. Orn. Hi. p. 36. 
pi. 21 . fig. 2. female in winter dress . 
Inhabits northern regions of both continents, to the pole ; 
breeds in the arctic circle ; rare, and wintering only in the 
middle states. 
33. TANAGRA. 
Tanagra f L. Gm. Lath. III. Cuv. Temm. Ranz. Tangara , 
Briss. JYemosia, Tanagra , Saltator , Ramphocelns , Pyranga ? 
Tachyphonus , VieilL 
