BIRDS. 77 



Eskimo grave ; i. e., inside the stone cairn that they erect over the body. 

 I have even seen a nest built in an Eskimo cranium. The nest is large 

 and bulky, nearly the entire structure being composed of Foa arctica 

 and other grasses, and invariably lined with feathers or hair. One nest, 

 found July 11, that contained small young, was thickly lined with the 

 hair of Vulpcs lagopiis. Some contain only feathers ; others both hair and 

 feathers. The number of eggs in all the nests I found was six. They 

 present an almost endless variation in size and coloration, great differ- 

 ence being observable even in the same nest. 



The snow bunting is generally distributed on both sides of Cumber- 

 land, but is nowhere abundant. Almost any locality is suitable, but I 

 doubt if the food supx^ly would be sufficient if they did not scatter well 

 over the country. They are very common on Disko Island and around 

 Disko Bay. Half-fledged young were taken near Godhavn August 2. 

 The first plumage of the young is a uniform ashy gray. The food of the 

 snowbird in summer consists largely of aquatic dipterous larvae. For 

 these they are constantly searching among the grass at the edges of fresh- 

 water ponds. During the autumn they feed mostly on various kinds of 

 seeds. They are very fond of the berries of Empetrum nigrum and Vacci- 

 nium uliginosum. As soon as the young are full-grown, they begin to 

 congregate in small loose flocks, and move southward with the first snows 

 of September. The young have by this time become lighter in plumage, 

 and the russet wash begins to appear on the head and neck. They were 

 often seen on board the schooner on the passage, at one time two hun- 

 dred miles at sea, off Cape Chidly. There seems to be a striking difference 

 in the size between Greenland and Alaskan specimens, the latter being 

 the larger. 



15. Plectrophanes lapponicus, (L.) Selby. 



" Kioligak," Cumberland Eskimo. '' Narksormutak," Greenlanders. 



Not nearly so common as the preceding in Cumberland. In the 

 autumn of 1877, I found a good many in the vicinity of Niantilic, but 

 nowhere else ; saw no males in the breeding plumage after September. 

 During the summer of 1878, I procured one single specimen in June. I 

 think they breed in the interior on the level land, and do not frequent 

 the sea-coast so much as P. nivalis. I found them very common on 

 Disko Island, and procured eggs and young in July and August. TJieir 

 food at this time seemed to be entirely dipterous larva?, for which thej' 

 searched about fresh- water pools. In autumn they feed on seeds and 

 berries. Many lit on the schooner during fogs and storms all the waj' 



