LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 
55 
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 common 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 whose berries they feed exclusively. These 
birds live in large flocks, and are of so social a disposition, that 
when separated from their own species, or when in small parties, 
they always join company with the common Lark of Europe; or 
in America, with some of the different Snow-birds. They feed 
chiefly on seeds, especially of the dwarf willows growing in frozen 
and mountainous countries, but occasionally also on leaves, grass, 
and insects. They breed on small hillocks, in open marshy fields; 
the nest is loosely constructed with moss and grasses, lined with a 
few feathers. The female lays five or six oblong eggs, yellowish 
rusty, somewhat clouded with brown. The Lapland Longspur, 
like the Larks, never sings but suspended aloft in the air, at which 
time it utters a few agreeable and melodious notes. 
As may be seen by the synonyms at the head of this article, 
this bird has been condemned by nomenclators to fluctuate between 
different genera. But between Fringilla and Emberiza it is not 
difficult to decide, as it possesses all the characters of the latter 
in an eminent degree, even more so than its near relative the 
Snow-Bunting, which has 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, (corre¬ 
sponding to the English name we have used): this we have 
