172 



say. Certain it is however that the whole design, 

 combined with the engineering skill involved, and the 

 exquisite neatness shewn in the manipulation of such 

 unmanageable stuff as stiflf hay, reveals an amount of 

 intelligence which, whether it be purely hereditary or 

 not, commands a very extensive tribute of respect at 

 our hands. 



Although I have said that the male bird alone 

 takes upon himself the task of preparing what ought 

 to be, but is not, the family mansion, yet I think it is 

 probable that in the wild state the labour is shared by 

 both sexes. This opinion I base on the fact that 

 occasionally I have seen the female clinging to the 

 nest and pulling on the hay as her husband pushed it 

 through from the oiher side of the wall, and then in 

 her turn threading it through for him to pull upon. 

 But this happened very seldom ; she usually appeared 

 to live a life of little interest and less ambition. 



Zbc Suow^^Buntinci. 



By W. LowNE. 



HE Snow-Bunting is a regular winter visitant 

 on the East Coast, its numbers depending 

 much upon the severity of the season. It 

 appears generally by the middle of October, 

 but occasionally a few^ put in an appearance in 

 September ; the earliest specimen I ever remember 

 being taken was caught in August four years ago. If 

 the weather becomes sharp their numbers are increased 

 considerably, when they betake themselves more 

 inland and also to the marshes. Assembled in large 

 straggling flocks or scattered in small detachments, 

 there is no more pleasing combination of sight and 

 sound than that afforded when a number of these 

 birds, backed by a dark grey sky, drop as it were in a 



