EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 247 



THE GREENLAND REDPOLE. 

 (Fringilla hornemcmni.) 



Plate 57, Fig. 8. 



This is a large form of Mealy Redpole, which is found in Ice- 

 land, Greenland, and Eastern North America. It is distinguished 

 from F. linaria by its white rump and larger size. It has occurred 

 in Durham in April, 1855. 



The eggs are similar to those of the Mealy Redpole, but are 

 lamer. 



THE SNOW BUNTING. 

 (Emberiza nivalis.)* 



Plate 57, Figs. 9, 10. 



In England and Ireland this handsome little bird is only known 

 as a comparatively rare winter visitor, and its chief haunts are 

 the rough open grounds near the sea. In Scotland the " Snow- 

 flake" is commoner, and a few remain to breed on the higher 

 mountains. Saxby found it breeding in Shetland. It is a circum- 

 polar bird, breeding on the tundra of the Arctic regions beyond 

 the limit of forest-growth, in Iceland, Novaya Zemlya and 

 Spitsbergen, and in similar climates at high elevations further 

 south, such as the snow-regions of the Norwegian fells. 



A nest I found on the islands off Vadso in Norway was built in 

 a heap of stones and rocks, and we had to remove a considerable 

 quantity before we could see it. The nest is a bulky structure 

 and adapted to the cavity in which it is placed, and is composed 

 of dry grass, with occasionally a few roots or a little moss, or even 

 twigs of the dwarf birch and other Alpine shrubs if the cavity is 

 large ; the lining consists of feathers, hair, or down. 



The eggs of the Snow Bunting are from five to eight in num- 

 ber ; six or seven is a usual clutch. They vary from yellowish- 

 white to pale bluish-green in ground-colour, spotted and blotched 

 with rich reddish-brown, and sometimes finely streaked with deep 

 blackish-brown ; these rich surface-markings are intermingled 

 with numerous and large underlying blotches and spots of pale 

 reddish-brown and pinkish-grey. On some specimens most of 

 * Plectrophenax nivalis— Saunders, Manual, p. 215 ; Sharpe, Handb., I., p. 75. 



