SNOW BUNTING SNOWFLAKE. 
Snow Bunting Thisisan essentially beautiful winter bird 
enowilake whose music is not equal to his esthetic 
Passerina eee ean h ‘ ‘ 
nivalis coloring, but whose cheery appearance in 
L. 6.80inches Midwinter in the farmyards of our most 
November ist northern States is hailed with delight. He 
toAprilist is after the remnants of scattered grain. 
The Snow Bunting is the one sparrowlike bird which 
may be described as nearly white, though there is some- 
what of brown and burnt sienna to be reckoned with in 
an inventory of his colors. In summer the male is white 
excepting back, shoulders, and inner tail feathers, the 
end half of the primary feathers and the inner secondary 
feathers of the wings; these are all black. The female 
at this season is streaked throughout the upper parts 
with black of a dull tone, and the wing feathers are 
sepia brown. In winter the male is tinged throughout 
the upper parts with burnt sienna more or less modified 
by the black bases of the feathers; wings and tail are 
similarly suffused with burnt sienna which tips and 
edges the feathers; the same color washes the breast and 
sides. The female at this season is similarly marked, but 
the primaries are sepia brown. ‘The nest is built on the 
ground; the materials used are plant fibres, grasses, and 
moss. Egg blue-white heavily marked with red-brown, 
The bird breeds only in the arctic regions, and migrates 
south in winter to the more northern States including 
Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, the coast of Virginia, and 
Massachusetts. It feeds exclusively on seeds, and is 
generally accustomed to move in rather large flocks; 
often it is seen on the coast in association with the 
Shorelark. The bird walks, and never progresses by hop- 
ping; it is essentially a ground bird, and seldom if ever 
takes to a tree unless pursued, preferring rather a fence or 
aroof. Mr. Ernest E. Thompson says, ‘‘ As long as the 
snow lasts the Snowflake stays, and as soon as the 
ground grows bare . . ,_ this bird of winter betakes 
himself again to the north, as far as ever human foot has 
been, and there builds his nest.” 
Of the song of the Snow Bunting I think very little 
is known. Pennant says, ‘‘ They preed in Greenland, 
arrive there in Apri!, and make their nests in the 
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