268 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



THE SNOW=BUNTINQ 



(Plectrophenax nivalis). 



The Snow-Bunting, often aptly termed the ' Snowflake,"* 

 is placed rather apart from the four species already dis- 

 cussed. The seasonal and other changes in its plumage are 

 somewhat bewildering, but at all times the proportion of 

 white, especially noticeable in flight, renders identification 

 easy. Flocks of these birds are to be met with in winter 

 over a great part of the British Isles ; but in summer 

 only a very few pairs remain to nest in the Cairngorms 

 and other mountains of Scotland. There is distinct evi- 

 dence of their increase in these regions. There they 

 nest on stony mountain -sides, but farther north they fix 

 their abode among boulders or driftwood at sea -level. 

 The four to six grayish - white eggs are spotted with 

 brownish red and purplish black. 



Family, HIRUNDINID^E (Swallows). 



THE SWALLOW 



(Hirundo rustica). 



Plate 91. 



In poem, proverb, and popular imagination, no bird is 

 so closely associated with the idea of summer as the 

 Swallow. Its abundance, its preference for the haunts of 

 man, the conspicuous gracefulness of its flight, and the 

 readiness with which it may be distinguished from almost 

 all other birds by even the most casual observer, combine 



