on THE SNOWFLAKE. 
earth toward heaven. I held my breath and listened to the mild babel of 
tut-ut-ut-tews, with which the Snow Buntings greeted me. The birds were 
loath to leave the place, and hovered indecisively while the bird-man devoured 
them with his eyes. As they moved off slowly, each bird seemed alternately 
to fall and struggle upward thru an arc of five or six feet, independently of 
his fellows, so that the flock as a whole produced quite the effect of a troubled 
snowstorm. 
Snowflakes flock indifferently in winter and may occur in numbers up 
to several hundred. At other times a single, thrilling, vibrant call-note, tezw 
or te-ew, may be heard during the falling of the real flakes, while the 
wandering mystery passes overhead, unseen. Stray birds not infrequently 
mingle with flocking Horned Larks; while Snowflakes and Lapland Long- 
spurs are fast friends in the regions where the latter are common. 
Probably these birds are of regular tho sparing occurrence in the Big 
Bend and Palouse countries, but they do not often reach the southern border 
of the State; and their appearance on Puget Sound, as upon the prairies of 
Pierce County, is quite unusual. While with us they move aimlessly from 
field to field in open situations, or glean the weed-seed, which forms their 
almost exclusive diet. In time of storm, or when emboldened by the con- 
tinuance of winter, they may make their appearance in the barnyard, or about 
the outbuildings, where their sprightly notes and innocent airs are sure to 
make them welcome. 
It is difficult to conceive how these birds may withstand the frightful 
temperatures to which they are subjected in a winter upon the Saskatchewan 
plains, and yet they endure this by preference to the effeminizing influences 
which are believed to prevail south of “Forty-nine,” and especially west of 
the Rockies. Close-knit feathers, the warmest covering known, fortified by 
layers of fat, render them quite impervious to cold; and as for the raging 
blizzard, the birds have only to sit quietly under the snow and wait till the 
blast has blown itself out. 
The sun alone prevails, as in the case of the man with the cloak, and 
at the first hint of the sun’s return to power, these ice-children hasten back 
to find their chilly cradles. A few nest upon the Aleutian Islands, and along 
the shores of northern Alaska; but more of them resort to those ice-wrapped 
islands of the far North, which are mere names to the geographer and dismal! 
memories to a few hardy whalers. Peary’s men found them breeding in 
Melville Land; and if there is a North Pole, be assured that some Snowflake 
is nestling contentedly at the base of it. 
