1668 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 3 



of a peregrine falcon, a merlin, roaming Eskimo dogs, and occasionally 

 by his own approach to a nest or fledged young. 



Behavior. — Of its behavior in Minnesota, T. S. Roberts (1932) 

 writes : 



"The Snowflake is a ground-loving bird, seldom alighting in trees, 

 and roosting at night on the earth or snow beneath the shelter of 

 some weed or tuft of grass. It is gregarious in the highest degree, 

 and the vast flocks that formerly assembled in springtime almost 

 obscured the skies as they towered above the weed fields from which 

 they had arisen, whirling and circling in perfect unison, now up, now 

 down, making with their thousands of wings a noise like the rushing 

 of the wind." 



Despite their marked gregariousness when away from the breeding 

 grounds, the snow buntings do not associate much with other species. 

 When they do, it is most often with the Lapland longspur. Wendell 

 Taber wrote me that he usually looked for one to a half dozen long- 

 spurs in a New England flock of buntings. Ralph Palmer (1949) 

 writes that in Maine: "Most common associates seen in flocks of 

 this species are Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs. On March 23, 

 1929, at Brunswick, I saw a single Snow Bunting with a flock of 

 Bronzed Grackles." 



The compact migrating and wintering flocks wheel and circle in 

 characteristic fashion over the upland fields and sea beaches, de- 

 scending abruptly and skimming low over the ground before settling. 

 The flight of the individual bird is somewhat undulating, but hardly 

 swift. B. Nelson (1944) timed one at 20 mph, another at 26 mph. 

 On the ground the birds may scatter widely while feeding. Their 

 normal gait is a walk or a quick run, and they occasionally hop or 

 jump over the snow surface. 



While they spend most of their time on the ground, in the south 

 the buntings sometimes perch in trees or on the roofs of buildings, 

 and may even line up on an electric wire like so many swallows. 

 Forbush (1929) states: "I have seen an apple tree almost covered 

 by a great flock of these birds, and they may be seen now and then 

 on fences or stone walls, but I have never seen a Snow Bunting in 

 the woods." 



In a letter to Mr. Bent from Colebrook, New Hampshire, Hilde- 

 garde C. Allen describes their snow-bathing: "Whenever the mercury 

 drops and the wind blows snow, in they come with their sweet calling 

 in the wind, space themselves neatly on the ridgepole, and are with 

 us on feeders, porch, and lawn till the next real thaw. They so love 

 to swim in the light snow, particularly if it is both snowing and blowing 

 and about zero. They seem almost like chickens dusting." 



