172 



Tliey feed in flocks, and ahvays seem to lie moving fonvanl, 

 those in the rear constantlj' flying forward to the front, and 

 exhibiting as they do so the Avliite marking on tlieir Avings. 



Their flight is strong and undulating, l)ut when feeding the 

 bird has a gentle hovering sort of flight, while contending for the 

 foremost place as a flock is oliserved to feed across a field, and its 

 note is very piercing and musical. 



The majority of those that visit us are of a broM'n colour, 

 with more or less white on the wings, and are probably birds of 

 the year, but they vary a good deal in colour, and there is a 

 sprinkling of tawny and lighter individuals, and some almost 

 white. 



They arrive here, as al)0ve stated, about the beginning of 

 October, and leave in the early spring, their stay being prolonged 

 or otherM'ise according to the mildness or severity of the weather. 

 They feed on grain and seeds of grasses. The crop of one I 

 dissected contained eight grains of wheat and some other seeds. 

 These seeds seemed quite perfect, and when I placed them in soil, 

 in a flower pot, several germinated, and in three weeks the jilants 

 Avere fi-om two to three inches high. The smaller seeds turned out 

 to be grasses. 



I have shot Snow Buntings at all times of their stay here, and 

 always found them in good condition, and more often than not 

 excessiA'ely fat. When the fields are covered with snow and they 

 are frozen out, they repair to the tide-washed margin of the river, 

 and there, no doubt, find abundance of food in the shape of seeds 

 waslied down from the upper reaches of the river. 



The plumage of the Snow Bunting varies so much in colour 

 that formerly it Avas considered there were three distinct species, 

 the Mountain, the Tawny, and the Snow Bunting. I have a very 

 beautiful specimen, which answers nearest to the Tawny state as 

 descriljed by Yarrell. It was given to me by a friend, Avho 

 assured me that he shot it in August at the Tees Estuary. I 

 have myself never seen them so early as that, lint there is a 

 notice of one in Yarrell's "Birds," in the white summer plumage, 

 .said to have been killed at Royston, in Hertfordshire, on the 22nd 

 May, 1840. 



The winter of 1880-81 was noted for the large numl)ers 

 which A'isited this district, and large numbers Avere taken Avith 

 limed tAvigs by bird fanciers. One of these came into my hands. 



