25G HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



ach aoii bhonaid, gu ruidh tre al dheth na thigeadh na 

 dlieigh '' (There would not stand in the gathering of 

 Strathspey but one bonnet for three generations of those 

 who should come after him.) I believe that this curse 

 is held to have been fulfilled. 



Although for many years the Snow Bunting was sup- 

 posed to rear her young on the highest Scottish hills, the 

 first authenticated nest was not found till 1886, and I 

 doubt whether since that day a dozen nests have been 

 seen throughout the whole of Scotland. As far back as 

 1830 MacGillivray puts it on record that he saw a male 

 Snow Bunting on a certain snowfield on Ben Mac Dhui, 

 and the record is of interest because of the fact that I 

 have seen the birds on this very field nearly a century 

 after. Writing at a still earlier date, Buffon narrates 

 that " It is observable that the Snow Buntings sleep little 

 or none in the night, and begin to hop by the earliest 

 dawn. Perhaps this is the reason why they prefer the 

 lofty mountains of the north in summer, where the day 

 lasts the whole season." It is certainly the case that the 

 Snow Bunting is, without exception, the earliest bird to 

 commence to salute the coming day, though it does not 

 continue its song, I think, to late dusk as do the Mavis 

 and the Robin at lower and more civilised levels. In 

 Spitzbergen, away beyond the Arctic Circle, the Snow Bird 

 is the only songster to be heard in the land. Here the sun 

 is above the horizon throughout the night, and I have 

 wondered whether there is any sustained pause in the 

 Bunting's song during the hours when darkness would 

 prevail in countries lying beyond the rays of the midnight 

 sun. 



The flight of the Snow Bird is usually heavy in com- 

 parison with that of the other mountain nesting-birds — 

 the Twite, the Meadow Pipit, and the Wheatear— and to 

 a certain extent resembles that of the Corn Bunting. The 



