SNOW BUNTING 1663 



A first sign of coming fledgling independence is when the young 

 buntings start to show interest in insects, which they do well before 

 their remiges are full grown. Tinbergen noted that one young that 

 left the nest on June 28, tried to catch a mosquito July 2, though its 

 male parent fed it until July 10. On July 9 this chick uttered its 

 first "trembling note" similar to that of adults living in flocks, and 

 the parent-offspring relationship dissolved by July 11. There can 

 be no doubt that this new "contact-note" functions to bring the young 

 together in the loose flocks they now form. 



The swarming of young buntings in large flocks at this time has been 

 widely reported. MacDonald and I found them particularly conspicu- 

 ous in the Slidre Fiord area of Ellesmere Island in early August. The 

 fiord shores had comparatively few buntings during the nesting period, 

 for most of them bred in the rocky interior. When the species started 

 returning to the fiord shores on August 5, most of the birds were full- 

 tailed, unattended juveniles, presumably of early broods. They 

 came by the hundreds, appearing near the beaches in the early morning 

 and fanning out in small groups over the low country during the day, 

 and their numbers increased daily. Here they remained until they 

 completed their postjuvenal molt in early September. 



Not all young buntings flock as described above. Some remain with 

 the adults, when the latter retire to secluded places to complete the 

 postnuptial molt. Whether these represent family groups or simply 

 mixed flocks is not certain. By this time, although an occasional 

 fragment of song may still be heard, the sexual bonds between pairs 

 have been broken. 



Both Witherby et al. and Salomonsen cite evidence that the snow 

 bunting is occasionally double brooded, that is the female may proceed 

 with a second nesting after successfully fledging its first brood. 

 Tinbergen noticed one case of double-broodedness, which was not 

 clearly defined; the female abandoned her first brood, which perished, 

 and proceeded with another nesting with a second mate. Apparently 

 bigamy may occur in either sex when one of the pair remains sexually 

 potent longer than usual. But as Tinbergen points out, the rigid 

 division of labor between the two sexes in caring for the young does not 

 permit effective double-broodedness. Despite the shortness of the 

 summer season, early nesting snow buntings, even at 80° N., might 

 have time for a second brood, but apparently they rarely do. The 

 sudden decline of sexual flights and song as nesting progresses and the 

 failure of either to recur more than spasmodically is also good evidence 

 that single broods each summer are the rule in the true Arctic. 



Plumages ami molts. — The natal down is variously described as 

 grayish or brownish. Witherby et al. describe the nestling as "Down, 

 dark grey, fairly long; distribution, inner supra-orbital, occipital, 



