Th?: Corn Bunting. 



The Lapland Bunting. 



Perching Birds. 27 



of the Yellow Ammer, but is more 

 powerful, and ends without the 

 high note which distinguishes the 

 song of the last-named bird. In 

 the autumn the species is some- 

 what gregarious and collects in 

 small flocks. The nest is a care- 

 lessh'-built structure of bents, 

 grass, or rootlets, with a scanty 

 lining of fine grasses or hairs, 

 and is placed on the ground. 

 The eggs are four or five in 

 number, rather handsome, stone- 

 grey or purplish brown, with large 

 spots, lines and scribblings of 

 purplish black. 

 The Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivnlis). This is a by no means uncommon 

 winter visitor to our shores, coming from the Arctic Regions. It is an inhabitant 

 of the Northern territories of both the old and new Worlds, and also ascends 

 the mountains in the lower latitude of its range ; thus it is known to breed 

 in the North of Scotland high up on the hills. In winter, when it visits Great 

 Britain, the Snow Bunting is found in flocks along our sea-coasts, but is sometimes 

 driven far inland by stress of weather. The plumage of the male in summer is white 

 and black, the wings and tail being for the most part black like the mantle. The 

 female is duller in colour and is never so black as the male. In winter both old and 

 _young birds are suffused with rufous, both above and below, and the black of the 

 nesting plumage is entirely obscured b}- margins of this colour. In spring the birds 

 do not moult, but gain their 

 full coloration h\ the shed- 

 ing of these pale tips to the 

 feathers. Where the Snow 

 Bunting breeds in the rocks, 

 the nest is placed in a hole 

 under shelter, and when 

 built on the ground the 

 structure seems to be the 

 same, being composed of 

 grasses, twigs, and moss, 

 and lined witli liair and 

 feathers. The eggs arc from 

 five to eiirht in number, 



Thk Snow Bunting. 



