270 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



varied and pretty ; in summer the back of this bird's 

 tail and wing feathers, with the exception of the 

 middle, — termed the inner secondaries, — are all black, 

 the rest of the plumage being all white. There is 

 one interesting account given by the well known 

 naturalist, Seebohm, who met with large flocks of 

 these little birds when on his travels in the Arctic 

 regions, whose description, as they appeared to him, 

 I now give in his own words : " In sledging over 

 the snow across the Steppes of South-Western 

 Siberia, from Ekatereenburg to Tomsk, a distance 

 of about 1,000 miles, the Snow Bunting was the only 

 bird we saw, except a few Sparrows, Jackdaws, and 

 Hooded Crows near the villages. The Snow 

 Buntings were in small flocks, and many of them 

 had almost lost their winter dress. It was a charm- 

 ing sight to watch them flitting before the sledge, as 

 we disturbed them at their meals. Sometimes in 

 the sunshine their white bodies were invisible 

 against the white snow, and we could almost fancy 

 that a flock of black butterflies was dancing before 

 us. The flight of the Snow Bunting is peculiar, 

 and is somewhat like that of a butterfly, as if the 

 bird altered its mind every few seconds as to which 

 direction it wished to take." Of its song, he says : 

 "Whilst the female is busy with the duties of 

 incubation the male sings freely, sometimes as he sits 

 upon the top of a rock, but often flinging himself up 

 into the air like a shuttlecock, and then descending 

 in a spiral curve, with wings and tail expanded, 

 singing all the time." 



