LAPLAND BUNTING. 423 



M. Nilsson includes this bird in his Fauna of Scandinavia. 

 It inhabits the Faroe Islands, Spitzbergen, Greenland, and 

 Iceland in summer, and from thence westward to Hudson's 

 Bay. Some stragglers are occasionally seen in the northern 

 parts of the United States. Dr. Richardson, in the second 

 volume of the Fauna Boreali Americana, says, " I never met 

 this species in the interior of the fur-countries during winter, 

 and I suspect that its principal retreats in that season are on 

 the borders of lakes Huron and Superior, and to the country 

 extending to the westward on the same parallel. In the year 

 1827 it appeared on the plains at Carlton House, about the 

 middle of May, in very large flocks, amongst Avhich were 

 many Shore Larks, Alauda alpestris, and a few individuals of 

 Plectrophanes picta. During their stay of ten or twelve 

 days they frequented open spots, where recent fires had de- 

 stroyed the grass. They came to Cumberland House a few 

 days later in the same season, and there kept constantly in 

 the furrows of a newdy ploughed field. In the preceding 

 year they were seen, though in smaller flocks, in the vicinity 

 of Fort Franklin, latitude ^^■^''i in the beginning of May ; 

 and the crops of those that were then killed were filled with 

 the seeds of Arbutus alpina. They breed in moist meadows 

 on the shores of the Arctic sea. The nest, placed on a small 

 hillock, among moss and stones, is composed externally of 

 the dry stems of grass, interwoven to a considerable thick- 

 ness, and lined very neatly and compactly with deer*'s hair. 

 The eggs, usually seven, are pale ochre-yellow, spotted Avith 

 brown.*" Captain James Ross, in the Appendix quoted in 

 the history of the Shore Lark, says, the Lapland Bunting 

 was " by no means numerous in the higher northern lati- 

 tudes. A nest with five eggs was brought on board early in 

 July 1830." 



The adult male in spring and summer has the beak yellow, 

 with the point black ; irides hazel ; the lore, or space between 



