SNOW BUNTING 1G53 



which it is so aptly named. It usually appears only in the dead of 

 winter, often on the heels of a storm that has blanketed the country- 

 side with white. Though certainly capable of flying southward to 

 warmer climes, it remains with the cold and snow, and seldom strays 

 below the northern two tiers of the United States, content to glean 

 its hardy livelihood from the few seed-spikes of grasses and weeds the 

 carpet of winter leaves exposed. And as soon as the warming spring 

 sun begins to melt the wandering drifts, the vagrant flocks disappear 

 as suddenly as they came, on route back to their northern home. 



But to those who know it on its northern breeding grounds, the 

 snow bunting is the harbinger of warmer times to come. As George M. 

 Sutton (1932) wrote after spending the long winter on Southampton 

 Island: "Only the North Countryman knows how welcome is the 

 cheerful greeting of the little Amauligak when it returns in the Spring. 

 The whole world may be white, the sky overcast, and the wind 

 boisterous or cruel; but when the Amauligak comes, winter is near its 

 end. All of us, even the fatalistic, phlegmatic Eskimos, found our- 

 selves listening every morning in February for the familiar note of 

 this bird. But Amauligak's vital problems are not easily solved, 

 when he returns too early; so he waits until he is sure the drifts are 

 soon to melt. And it often seems that he is a long time in coming." 



Much of the following account of this species is based on my own 

 experiences shared with G. M. Sutton (Sutton and Parmelee, 1954) 

 on Baffin Island and with S. D. MacDonald (Parmelee and Mac- 

 Donald, 1960) on Ellesmere Island. Other detailed sources referred 

 to repeatedly by author only in the following pages are those by 

 Niko Tinbergen (1939), H. F. Witherby et al. (1941), Finn Salomonsen 

 (1950-1951), and Alfred Watson (1957). 



Spring. — T. S. Roberts (1932) thus describes the species' departure 

 from its wintering grounds in Minnesota: "Migrating by day as well 

 as by night, the Snow Bunting may be seen on daj T s in March and 

 early April passing in a continuous stream at no great height above 

 the earth. It is not in flock formation but scattered, the birds calling 

 to one another as they move steadily onward in undulating, erratic 

 flight, a few dropping out now and then to alight and feed." 



The arrival date of snow buntings on the breeding grounds may 

 vary considerably from year to year in a given locality. Salomonsen 

 notes "When the spring is especially inclement the Snow-Bunting 

 can be delayed almost a month." Tinbergen cites the careful records 

 kept by Johan Petersen, first governor of Angmagssalik in southern 

 Greenland, which showed first arrivals as early as February 10th and 

 as late as April 8th, with an average arrival date for 17 years of 

 March 21st. While Pleske (1928) attributes such variation to 

 climatic conditions in the breeding area, Tinbergen thinks it "may be 



