LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 
123 
never been misplaced. It has even the palatine knob 
of Emberiza , and much more distinctly marked than 
in the snow bunting' ( Emberiza nivalis .) It has been 
erroneously placed in Fringilla , merely on account of 
its bill being* somewhat wider and more conic. 
Meyer has lately proposed for the two just mentioned 
nearly allied species, a new genus under the name 
Plectrophanes , (corresponding to the English name we 
have used.) This we have adopted as a subgenus, and 
are almost inclined to admit as an independent genus 
being well characterized both by form and habits. The 
two species of Plectrophanes , to which we apply the 
name of longspur, together with the buntings, are well 
distinguished from the finches by their upper mandible, 
contracted and narrower than the lower, their palatine 
tubercle, &c. From the typical Emberizce they differ 
remarkably by the length and straightness of their hind 
nail, and the form of their wings, which, owing to the 
first and second primaries being longest, are acute. 
In the true buntings, the first quill is shorter than the 
second and third, which are longest. This species, in 
all its changeable dresses, may at once be known by its 
straight and very long hind nail, which is twice as long 
as the toe. The bill is also stronger and longer than 
in the other species. 
The longspurs are strictly Arctic birds, only descend- 
ing in the most severe and snowy winters to less 
rigorous climates, and never to the temperate zone, 
except on the mountains. Hence they may with the 
greatest propriety be called snow birds. They frequent 
open countries, plains, and desert regions, never inha- 
biting forests. They run swiftly, advancing by successive 
steps like the larks, (which they resemble in habits, as 
well as in the form of their hind nail,) and not by 
hopping, like the buntings. The conformation of their 
wings also gives them superior powers of flight to their 
allied genera, the buntings and finches. Their moult 
appears to be double, and, notwithstanding Temminck ? s 
and my own statement to the contrary, they differ much 
in their summer and winter plumage. Owing to this. 
