302 SINGING BIRDS. 



The Snow Buntings are seen in sparing to assemble in Nor- 

 way and its islands in great numbers ; and after a stay of about 

 three weeks they disappear for the season, and migrate across 

 the Arctic Ocean to the farthest known land. On their return 

 in winter to the Scottish Highlands their flocks are said to be 

 immense, minghng, by an aggregating close flight, almost into 

 the form of a ball, so as to present a very fatal and successful 

 mark for the fowler. They arrive lean, but soon become fat. 

 In Austria they are caught in snares or traps, and when fed 

 with millet become equal to the Ortolan in value and flavor. 

 When caged they show a very wakeful disposition, instantly 

 hopping about in the night when a light is produced. Indul- 

 gence in this constant train of action and perpetual watchful- 

 ness may perhaps have its influence on this species, in the 

 selection of their breeding places within the Arctic regions, 

 where for months they continue to enjoy a perpetual day. 



The food of these birds consists of various kinds of seeds 

 and the larv^ae of insects and minute shell-fish ; the seeds of 

 aquatic plants are also sometimes sought by them, and I have 

 found in their stomachs those of the Ruppia, species of Poly- 

 gonum, and gravel. In a state of confinement they shell and 

 eat oats, millet, hemp-seed, and green peas, which they split. 

 They rarely perch, and, like Larks, live much on the ground. 



This harbinger of winter breeds in the northernmost of the 

 American islands and on all the shores of the continent from 

 Chesterfield Inlet to Behring's Straits. The most southerly of 

 its breeding stations in America, according to Richardson, is 

 Southampton Island, in the 6 2d parallel, where Captain Lyons 

 found a nest, by a strange fatality, placed in the bosom of the 

 exposed corpse of an Esquimaux child. Well clothed and 

 hardy by nature, the Snow Bunting even lingers about the forts 

 of the fur countries and open places, picking up grass-seeds, 

 until the snow becomes deep. It is only during the months 

 of December and January that it retires to the southward 

 of Saskatchewan, and it is seen again there on its return 

 as early as the middle of February, two months after which 

 it arrives in the 65 th parallel, and by the beginning of May it 



