SNOW-BUNTING. 9 



ined by Col. Irby, which had been picked up dead at 

 Cape Spartel near Tangier, and Mr. Godman mentions the 

 appearance of a flock of about a score on Corvo, one of the 

 Azores, in the winter of 1864-65, while an example killed 

 in Fayal, another island of that group, was subsequently 

 sent to him. There is no record of its occurrence in Por- 

 tugal or Spain, and it seems to be equally a stranger to 

 Greece or Turkey though it occasionally visits the Crimea. 

 In Asia we have no information as to the southern limit of 

 its winter migration, but Mr. Swinhoe says that it visits the 

 north of China in cold weather, and the Zoological Society 

 has received a living m example from Japan. In America its 

 distribution in winter seems to depend almost entirely on 

 the severity of the season and especially on the amount of 

 snow which may fall, but it is believed not ordinarily to 

 penetrate further towards the south than lat. 35° N. and on 

 the Pacific coast not so far. In the Missouri valley and in 

 New England it is often exceedingly abundant. In the 

 Bermudas it is said seldom to fail making its appearance in 

 December and January, sometimes in considerable numbers. 

 From all southern districts, on the approach of spring, it 

 again returns to the northern latitudes whence it came. 



Many of the dreariest places in those countries are en- 

 livened by the Snow-Bunting making its home among them. 

 From his perch on some moderate elevation the cheerful, 

 not to say melodious, song of the cock, conspicuous in his 

 pied plumage, gladdens the heart of the traveller over the 

 wildest lava-streams and most barren moors of Iceland, and 

 in lands still more desolate, or even totally destitute of 

 human inhabitants, the agreeable effect of his notes is 

 heightened. But the song, or part of it, is also often 

 delivered on the wing, the bird springing into the air and 

 hovering some ten feet or more above his wonted scat to 

 which on its conclusion he again repairs, or he will flit to 

 some similar station an hundred yards off and thence renew 

 the performance ; while his chosen partner, whose more 

 dusky attire makes her less easily seen, is busily engaged in 

 getting her living from the scanty herbage that sprouts 



VOL. II. c 



