72 Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of the 



Plectrophanes nivalis. 



Of the Snow Bunting it is needless to say more tlian that it 

 is very generally distributed throughout the country, from 

 Hudson's Bay to the Rocky Mountains, and has been found 

 breeding in the north ; and that a few small parties sometimes 

 winter on the plains of the Saskatchawan and at Bed Biver 

 Settlement where they can find any patches of ground free from 

 snow, while the main body goes further south. On the Saskat- 

 chawan River they may be met with early in October, and at Red 

 River Settlement by the 10th. Great flocks left Fort Carlton, 

 bound southward, in the first few days of November ; and after 

 the 3rd of December I saw none there till late in March. At 

 Red River Settlement, in 1859, I saw some on the 7th of April, 

 and by the 10th there were large flocks. It was a very late 

 spring, and large numbers were passing in their migration till 

 the end of the month. In spring, I have seen them perched on 

 the shingled roofs of the cattle-sheds in the warm sun, chirping 

 away quite merrily with a clear note, such as I never heard them 

 utter in the autumn; I consequently presume that in their 

 breeding-places in the far north they may be found to have a 

 pleasant song. I suppose that the Snow Bunting does not often 

 perch on trees, although I once observed one do so ; but as it 

 was just after 1 had taken a shot into a flock of them, I fancied 

 it might have been a wounded bird. 



60. Plectrophanes lapponicus. 



Besides the specimen already recorded from the Saskatchawan 

 {' Ibis,' vol. iv. p. 6), I have received the Lapland Bunting from 

 the western shore of Hudson's Bay; and Mr. Murray notes it 

 from the same locality. Sir John Richardson says that it breeds 

 in the moist meadows on the shores of the Arctic Sea ; and 

 Mr. Ross includes it among the birds of the Mackenzie. 

 Towards the end of May they were in large flocks on the prairies 

 at Fort Carlton, and were then very fat. 



61. Plectrophanes pictus. 



In the "^ Fauna Bor.-Am.' it is stated that this Bunting was 

 observed associating with the preceding species at Fort Carlton. 

 In the Smithsonian Institution there is a specimen from Pern- 



