8 emberizid;e. 



to the leaves. On the ground, and in Western Europe they 

 seldom perch on a tree or bush,* they run with ease and speed 

 after the manner of Larks, and like those birds are easily 

 netted or snared. They are commonly fat and well-flavoured. 

 In confinement they seldom live long except under very 

 favourable condition s+. 



On the continent the Snow-Bunting is a regular winter- 

 visitor to the north of France, central Germany and all the 

 countries between these parts and its breeding-haunts. 

 Stragglers occasionally wander further and have been ob- 

 tained though rarely in the south of France, Switzerland 

 and Italy. Two examples are said to have been caught at 

 Malta in 1840 but possibly the species was mistaken. I 

 Nevertheless Tyrwhitt Drake saw a specimen, since exam- 



* In North-eastern Russia, however, Messrs. Brown and Seebohm saw them 

 repeatedly perching, both singly and in flocks, upon trees. Audubon in America 

 speaks of their frequently alighting on trees (Orn. Biogr. ii. p. 516), but Dr. 

 Cones (Birds of the Northwest, p. 119) says he has rarely seen them do so. 

 Such is certainly not their habit with us, and the instance to the contrary 

 recorded by Mr. Murray Matthew (Zool. p. 6'2oS) is possibly unique. The state- 

 ment in the published version of Linmeus's Lapland journal (Lachesis Lapponica, 

 ii. p. 97) respecting the people who with a crossbow-bolt "take successful aim at 

 the Emberiza nivalis or Snow-Bunting sitting on the top of the most lofty pines" 

 is such that no ornithologist could suppose was made by one so well acquainted 

 with this species as his account of it (Sw. Yet. Ak. Handl. 1740, p. 368) 

 shews him to have been, and therein he expressly says that it does not 

 commonly sit upon either bough or bush ; but it is satisfactory to the Editor to 

 say, after consulting the original manuscript (p. 260) in the possession of the 

 Linnean Society, that the translator mistook the words " smd Sparfver " (small 

 Sparrows) for " Sno-Sparfver" (Snow-Sparrows) and thus led Sir James Smith 

 to the further error of introducing the scientific name of the latter. 



t They have however been more than once known to breed in captivity, and 

 Mr. Stevenson possessed a pair which in two successive seasons built a nest inside 

 some rock-work in his aviary. It was indeed inaccessible to his examination but 

 the birds were seen for some days carrying into the hole a large quantity of 

 materials, and soon after the hen used only to appear at long intervals and then 

 for but a few minutes at a time, feeding hastily like a sitting bird and returning 

 to the hole which was jealously guarded by the cock. This went on for about a 

 fortnight when it was supposed that the eggs were hatched, but the young pro- 

 bably died in a few days owing to the want of proper food, for the parents soon 

 abandoned the hole. 



X The Snow-Finch (Montifringilla nivalin) from its general resemblance to the 

 Snow-Bunting has in several cases been the cause of error as lo the occurrence of 

 the latter in the south of Europe. The bill and hind claws however afford ready 

 characters whereby the one bird may be distinguished from the other. 



