BUNTINGS 73 



of dwarf plants, and insects, which it sometimes 

 captures on the wing. It resorts much to the sea- 

 shore, where it feeds on small Crustacea and minute 

 beetles found under seaweed and driftwood. 



A supposed instance of its nesting in Devonshire 

 was recorded many years ago by the late Lord Lilford 

 {ZooL, 1852, p. 3707), but there is reason to believe 

 that the bird referred to was the Rock Pipit. 



An excellent photograph of a nest of the Shore 

 Lark is given in Pearson's "Voyage to Novaya 

 Zemlya," 1899, p. 76. 



Fam. EMBERIZID^. 



SNOW BUNTING. Plectrophanes nivalis (Linnaeus). 

 PI. 12, figs. 10, 11, 11a. Length, 6 5 in. ; wing, 4*5 in.; 

 tarsus, O'S in. 



Chiefly known as a w^inter visitant ; often in 

 large flocks on the east and south coasts of England, 

 but resident and breeding in parts of Scotland. 



E. Gray, writing in 1871 ("Birds, West Scot- 

 land," p. 126), was aware that it frequented certain 

 mountains in Aberdeen, Banff, Inverness, and Ross- 

 shire in summer ; and Dr. Saxby had discovered 

 nests in Unst, Shetland (Zool, 1861, p. 7709; 1863, 

 p. 8680; and 1864, p. 9237). Since then its breed- 

 ing in Scotland has been well established. Cf. 

 Harvie-Brown, ZooL, 1886, p. 336, and "Fauna of 

 Sutherland" (1887), p. 140. In the latter work a 

 view is given of the corrie in which a nest was 

 found, and a coloured figure of a young bird. In 



