428 EMBERIZTD^E. 



that on tlieir way to the south these birds appear round 

 Hudson''s Bay in September, and stay till the frosts of No- 

 vember again oblige them to seek out warmer quarters. 

 Early in December they make their descent into the Northern 

 States in whirling, roving flocks, either immediately before, 

 or soon after, an inundating fall of snow. The southern 

 migration on the American continent extends as far to the 

 south as Louisville in Kentucky. 



To return to our bird in Europe, Linnaeus, in his Tour in 

 Lapland, mentions having seen them in that country at the 

 end of May, and in the beginning of July. At page 282 

 he observes that the Emheriza nivalis is said to be the only 

 living animal that has been seen two thousand feet above 

 the line of perpetual snow in the Lapland Alps. This bird 

 breeds in Iceland, and on the Faroe Islands. Mr. Hewit- 

 son, in his notes on the Ornithology of Norway, printed in 

 the Magazine of Zoology, says, " we saw the Snow Buntings 

 in their beautiful plumage of black and white, and found a 

 single nest with the young under some loose stones." In 

 Sweden this bird inhabits the highest hills in summer, and 

 the valleys in winter. Muller includes it as a bird of Den- 

 mark. Dr. Neill, Dr. Fleming, and Mr. Dunn, mention 

 the Snow Bunting as a winter visiter to Shetland and Ork- 

 ney ; and Dr. Fleming adds that in Zetland it is called 

 Oatfowl, from the preference which it gives to that kind of 

 grain. 



Sir William Jardine, Bart, of Applegarth, Dumfriesshire, 

 whose extensive acquirements in various branches of Natural 

 History are so well known, has most liberally supplied me 

 with valuable information from his own notes on the locali- 

 ties of our birds in Scotland ; and under the head of the 

 Snow Bunting, quoting from his communication, I find that 

 this bird is common in Dumfriesshire during the winter, fre- 

 quenting the sheep pasture lands, at an elevation of from 



