414 
LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 
are observed to alight on trees, as well as on the ground, not- 
withstanding their long and straight hind nail. We think it 
highly probable that some individuals, especially in their 
youth, visit in cold winters the mountainous districts of the 
Middle States ; as they are well known in Europe to wander 
or stray to the more temperate climates of Germany, France, 
England, and especially Switzerland ; in all which countries, 
however, the old birds are never seen. It is not extraordi- 
nary that they should never have been observed in the Atlan- 
tic States, as they are nowhere found in maritime countries. 
No figure of the adult male in perfect plumage has before 
now, we believe, been given ; and no representation at all is 
to be met with in the more generally accessible books, or col- 
lections of plates. Mr Selby has lately published a figure of 
the young in the Linnean Transactions, and it will also, we 
presume, appear in his splendid work, which yields to none 
but Naumann’s, Wolf’s, and Wilson’s, in point of accuracy 
and character. That recorded by him appears to be the first 
instance of an individual having been found in Britain. The 
species is common in the hilly districts of eastern Europe, but 
is chiefly confined within the Polar circle, though found abun- 
dantly in all the northern mountainous districts of Europe and 
Asia, particularly Siberia and Lapland. It is sometimes known 
to descend in autumn and winter, and, though very rarely, 
in spring, either singly and astray, or in immense clouds, into 
the north and middle of Germany. Great numbers were seen 
in the neighbourhood of Frankfort on the Main, in the mid- 
dle of November, 1821. In France, they are restricted to the 
loftiest and most inaccessible mountains, where they are very 
rare ; so much so, that in those of the Vosges, Gerardin only 
met with a single specimen after six years’ researches, though 
more frequent in the mountains of Dauphine. They are com- 
mon during summer in Arctic America ; and are found at 
Hudson’s Bay in winter, not appearing before November : 
near the Severn river they haunt the cedar trees, upon w’hose 
berries they feed exclusively. These birds live in large flocks. 
