T R E E S P A R R O W .
breast and abdomen white, tinged with cream-colour, the under tailcoverts
white. An obscure spot of dark brown on the middle of the
breast; and the feathers that cover the flexure of the wing, when closed,
are bay.
Length 65 inches, extent of wings 8;] ; bill along the back ^g, along
the edge f3 ; tarsus \ §.
Adult Female. Plate CLXXXVIII. Fig. %
The female resembles the male, but is paler in its tints, and rather
smaller.
The species is very closely allied to the Field Sparrow and the Chip
ping Sparrow, which are at least as much Emberiza? as Fringillas; but
as the generic characters and affinities of species cannot be conveniently
detailed in a work like this, I must for the present defer the grouping
of these, and the numerous birds allied to them.
THE CANADIAN BARBERRY.
BERBERIS CANADENSIS, Willd. Sp. PI. vol. ii. p. 227. PursJu Fl. Amer. Sept. vol. i.
p. 219.—HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA, Linn. BERBERIDES, JUSS.
This species of Barberry is very abundant in Maine and Massachusetts,
as well as in the British provinces. It is an erect shrub, from five
to eight feet in height, with triple prickles, simple obovate remotely serrated
leaves, short corymbose racemes; yellow flowers, and pendulous
oblong red berries, having an agreeable acid taste.
( 515 )
THE SNOW BUNTING.
EMBERIZA NIVALIS, LlNN.
P L A T E C L X X X I X . ADULT AND YOUNG.
As soon as the cold blasts of winter have stiffened the earth's surface,
and brought with them the first snow-clouds, millions of these birds,
driven before the pitiless storm, make their way towards milder climes.
Their wings seem scarcely able to support their exhausted, nay almost
congealed bodies, which seem little larger than the great feathery flakes
of the substance from which these delicate creatures have borrowed their
name. In compressed squadrons they are seen anxiously engaged in attempting
to overcome the difficulties which beset them amid their perilous
adventures. They now glide low over the earth, relax the closeness of
their phalanx, and with amazing swiftness sweep over the country in
search of that food, without which they must all shortly perish. Disappointed
in their endeavours, the travellers again ascend, close their files,
and continue their journey. At last, when nearly exhausted by fatigue
and hunger, some leader espies the wished-for land, not yet buried in
snow. Joyful notes are heard from the famished voyagers, while with
relaxed flight, and wings and tail expanded, they float as it were in broad
circles, towards the spot where they are to find relief. They alight, disperse,
run nimbly in masses from the foot of one corn stalk to the next,
scratch the ground here, pick up a dormant insect there, or nibble the
small seeds of the withered grass, mixing them with a portion of gravel.
Now two meet, and contend for the scanty morsel; the weaker gives way,
for hunger, it seems, acts on birds as on other beings, rendering them selfish
and unfeeling.
The Snow Birds enter the eastern portions of the Union sometimes early
in November, and remain in such parts as suit them best until the month
of March. They now and then alight on trees, frequently on fences, and
sometimes on the roofs of low buildings, in such compact bodies or continued
lines, as to render it easy for the sportsman who may be inclined
to shoot them, to procure a great number at once.
This species, while in the United States, never enters the woods, but
prefers either the barreny portions of our elevated table-lands, or the vi-
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