352 THE SNOW BUNTING. 



THE SNOW BUNTING, or SNOW FLECK, is one of our winter visitors, and is known by a 

 great variety of names, owing to the manner in which its plumage is colored, according to the 

 time of year or age of the individual. In some places it is called the Tawny Bunting, White 

 Lark, or Pied Finch ; in others, the Mountain Bunting, because it is usually found upon the 

 hilly ranges of the countries which it frequents. 



It is an interesting bird, and has engaged the attention of almost every practical orni- 

 thologist. It generally arrives in the northern regions of Europe at the end of autumn, and 

 remains during the winter ; the oldest birds always leaving last and keeping towards the 

 north, while the young birds arrive first, and go farther southward than their elderly relatives. 

 They generally congregate in little flocks, and may be seen scudding over the snow-clad hills, 

 their black wings and tail contrasting strangely with the pure white surface over which they 

 pass. Colonel Montague once shot more than forty out of the same flock, and found that 

 there were hardly any two specimens whose plumage was precisely alike, the feathers varying 

 from the tawny hue of the young bird to the pure white and black of the adult in full winter 

 dress. 



While treating of this bird, Mudie gives the following interesting remarks: "There is 

 another trait in the natural history of birds, which, although it may be observed in them all, 

 resident as well as migrate, is yet so conspicuous in the Snow Bunting that this is the proper 

 place for noticing it. The male is the most sensitive to heat, and the female to cold. That 

 difference appears, whether the result of the action of heat be change of place or change of 

 plumage. The males of all our summer birds arrive earlier than the females, and in all resi- 

 dent birds the change of plumage and voice of the male are among the first indications of the 

 spring, taking precedence of most of the vegetable tribes, for the redbreast and the wren sing 

 before the snowdrop flowers appear. 



"It seems, too, that the song and the attractions of the male are accessories in aid of the 

 warmth of the season, to produce the influence of the season upon the female ; and even as 

 the season advances, the female remains a skulking and hideling bird throughout the season, 

 at least until the young have broken the shell and require her labor to feed, and her courage 

 (which she sometimes requires to a wonderful degree at this time) to protect them. Whether 

 it be that instinct leads the female to husband her heat for the purpose of hatching her eggs, 

 or simply that the thinning of the under plumage, which takes place at that time, is the more 

 conspicuous the more closely the bird sits, it is certain that the females of most birds avoid 

 the sun, and that all cover their eggs from the light during the period of incubation." 



Wilson says of this species that it makes its appearance in the northern states early in 

 December, coming in flocks of different sizes, and flying closely together at some little elevation 

 from the ground. They seem to be restless in their disposition, seldom staying long in one 

 spot, and resuming their flight after a short repose. The nest of the Snow Bunting is made in 

 the most retired mountainous districts, and is placed in the cleft of a rock at some distance 

 from other habitations of the same species. It is built of grass and feathers, and is lined with 

 down or the fur of different quadrupeds ; the fox and the hare being the most usual. The 

 number of eggs is five, and the color is white spotted with brown. 



The song of the Snow Bunting is feeble but pleasing, and is continually uttered while 

 the bird is sitting near its nest. There are, besides, several notes peculiar to this bird ; one, a 

 sweet, short call, and the other a harsh, ringing scream of alarm. In several countries this bird 

 is valued for its flesh, which when it is fat is thought to be very delicate, and in Greenland it 

 is captured in great quantities and dried ; the Laplanders have an idea that it fattens on the 

 flowing of the tide and grows lean on the ebb. 



The food of this bird is rather various, but greatly consists of seeds. According to Wilson, 

 it " derives a considerable part of its food from the seeds of certain aquatic plants, which may 

 be one reason for its preferring those remote northern countries, so generally intersected with 

 streams, ponds, lakes, and sheltered arms of the sea, that probably abound with such plants. 

 In passing down the Seneca river towards Lake Ontario, late in the month of October, I was 

 surprised by the appearance of a large flock of these birds feeding on the surface of the water, 

 supported on the top of a growth of weeds that rise from the bottom, growing so close togethei 



