THE SNOW-BUNTING. 



191 



round before alighting on the ground, where they run about 

 like wagtails. The flocks are very erratic in their move- 

 ments, changing about from place to place, according to the 

 the weather. They feed on various grass seeds, which they 

 find on the leas and moors, and likewise on the waste 

 corn in the stubble fields ; but when severe weather sets 

 in, and 



the stormy north sends driving forth 

 The blinding sleet and snaw, 



Burns, Whiter. 



they are sometimes driven to visit stackyards in the vicinity 

 of their haunts, to pick up what they can get there in the 

 way of food.^ 



1 Mr. Kelly records that on 14th November 1880 he saw hundreds of Snow- 

 Buntings feeding on the corn stacks on Lauder Common ; also that, where hill 

 sheep are fed on hay, they resort in great Hocks to feed on the seed. He adds 

 that they were plentiful at Longcroft. Mr. Hardy states that in severe winters, 

 particularly in drifty days, he has seen them frequenting Penmanshiel stackyard. 

 — Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. ix. pp. 404-5. 



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