Plectrophenax nivalis
Order Passeriformes
Family Calcariidae
Adult in autumn and winter.— Head and under parts white, washed on the head and sides of breast with brown; the black feathers of the back veiled with gray and brown; wings and tail black and white; bill reddish-brown.
Immature.— Brown on the crown, and sides of throat deeper; black of wings and tail not so clear, and white less pure.
Adult in March.— The brown begins to wear off, the plumage tending to become black and white.
The Snow Bunting is a common winter resident on the coast of New York and New England, and along the shore of Lake Champlain, arriving late in October and leaving toward the end of March. Occasionally large flocks appear in the interior, especially in northern New England, feeding on the seeds of weeds in neglected fields and waste ground. It occurs also as a migrant in large river valleys, feeding on the muddy flats of lakes or ponds. On the sea-coast, flocks of Snow Buntings associate with Horned Larks, but the former frequent the beach more than their companions, and the grassy hills less.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)