The Snow Buntin 



g 



loose boulders and is seldom found in the localities frequented 

 by the former bird. In winter it is a regular migrant to 

 our east coast, and also visits the west, but more sparingly. 



In cold winters it becomes much more abundant, 

 returning northwards, however, on the first approach of 

 milder weather. 



In summer the adult male has the back, inner secondaries, 

 two-thirds of each of the primaries, and the six central tail 

 feathers black, the rest of the plumage being white ; the 

 female resembles her mate but is rather smaller, the head 

 and neck are streaked with greyish white, and there is less 

 white on the wing. 



In winter both sexes have broad tawny margins to the 

 feathers of the back, while the head, breast, and flanks are 

 largely suffused with the same colour. The young bird is 

 greyish brown, spotted both above and below with a darker 

 tint of the same colour. Length 6*55 in. ; wing 4*4 in. 



THE STARLING 



Sturnus vulgaris, Linnaeus 



Except that it commits depredations in the cherry 

 orchards as the fruit ripens, nothing but good can be said 

 of the Starling. Tame, confiding, no mean songster, and an 

 excellent mimic, he is very welcome wherever found. In 

 autumn he congregates in vast flocks, whose numbers reach 

 many thousands, and there must be few people who have 

 not noticed these flocks go through their aerial evolutions, 



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