AMERICAN ORNITHOLOOY. 203 



are jet black, thus making the appearance of the birds entirely different 

 in summer from their winter plumage. Other examples of this in- 

 teresting double change of dress may be seen among the Longspurs 

 and in the Bobolink. 



In their northern summer home they are found in abundance, their 

 snowy whiteness and black markings making them very attractive and 

 conspicuous creatures; at this season their notes are varied from the 

 twittering whistle to which we are accustomed and they have a pretty 

 song, clear and sweet but not very streng. Their nests are built on 

 the tundras common to the Arctic region being sunk in the moss which 

 is found growing everywhere. 



g ; : MCKAY SNOWFLAKE. § 



A. O. IT- NO. 535. (I'asseriiia hyperboreus.) 



RANGE. 



West coast of Alaska, known to breed only on Hall and St. Matthew 

 Islands. 



HABITS. 



For a description of this beautiful species as found on Hall Island in 

 Bering Sea we quote from Charles Keeler in Harriman Alaska Ex- 

 pedition. 



"Upon climbing up the slopes from the shore we found ourselves up- 

 on an Arctic tundra — a great rolling plateau of bog, with pools of 

 water in every hollow, and flowers growing in bewildering profusion. 

 A bed of moss spread across the Island from cliff to clifif, carpeting 

 everything with its soft tones of gray, brown, purple and green — parts 

 of it like velvet, soft and yielding to the tread and other parts spongy 

 and soggy. The masses of flowers wove richly glowing patterns into 

 the carpet, in purple, blue, yellow and white. 



It was fitting that this fairy garden in the midst of a stormy sea 

 should be inhabited by one of the most chastely adorned of birds, the 

 hyperborean Snowflake. Vtrily a snowfiake this exquisite creature is, 

 as it whirls through the misty glow of night among the wastes of 

 flowers. Its plumage is as candid as the freshly opened lily. The 

 spotless white shows more perfectly by contrast with the jetty bill and 

 the blackness of the wing tips. At the edge of'its snowy tail are two 

 other black dots. It is sparrow transformed into a wraith of the snow. 

 It is adorned with the ermine of kings, and a king it seems amid the 

 realm of flowers. Its little mate has the back streaked with black and 



