376 THE SNOW-FLAKE. 



the humble hedge-sparrow, the laivrock drap doon on the 

 braided lea beside the clamorous craik, and see the daffodil 

 bend its golden head as if to listen to the converse o' ' the wee 

 crimson-tipped flower.' " Shakespeare draws a lovely picture of 

 Nature and Nature's love in " Romeo and Juliet" — 



\Julict — " Wilt thou begone ? it is not yet near day ; 

 It was the nightingale, and not the lark, 

 That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear ; 

 Nightly he sings on yon pomegranate tree, 

 Believe me, love, it was the nightingale. 

 Romeo — It was the lark, the herald of the morn, 



No nightingale ; look, love, what envious streaks 

 Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east, 

 Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day 

 Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops ; 

 I must be gone and live, or stay and die." 



The next genus is Genus Pledroplianes, or lark-buntings. 

 The snow-flake or snow-bunting being the type of the three 

 species found in Britain, and the only one I have identified 

 about St Andrews, it is well named the snow-flake, at least 

 here, for it is seldom seen flying about our west sands in its 

 usual small flocks unless the fields are covered with snow. 

 One of my notes will suffice — " This is the 16th of December 

 1888, and, so far as gone, is a snowless, almost iceless winter. I 

 have not yet seen the snow-flakes, although I have been 

 out the links and sands almost daily for some weeks past on the 

 lookout for them." But on the 3rd and 8th of January 1889, 

 I saw several flocks of from seven to forty on the sands, and 

 still no snow, showing there is no hard and fast rule with 

 nature. 



The Snow-Flake ok Snow-Bunting. 



Plectrophcmes Nivalis. (Meyer.) Emberiza Nivalis. (Linn.) 



" Then my dial goes not true ; I took this lark for a bunting." 



—AW% Well that Ends Well. 



The snow-flake was first separated from the true buntings by 

 Meyer from their different form of bill, wings, and feet. The 

 bill is shorter, the cutting edges less marked. The wings 

 Longer ; first quill longest instead of the third ; more adapted 



