378 THE SNOW-FLAKE, OR SNOW-BUNTING. 



fissures of rocks or amongst loose stones, composed of grasses, 

 lined with the fur of the Arctic fox, deer's hair, and feathers. 

 Captain Lyon got a nest in the bosom of a dead Esquimaux 

 child on Southampton Island, in the parallel of 62° — one of 

 their most southerly breeding-places in North America. They 

 breed in Greenland, Davis Straits, Iceland, and on all the 

 shores of America, from Chesterfield Inlet to Behring Straits. 

 They also breed in Norway and Finland. Mr Wolley got their 

 nests on the highlands of Feroe. He says : — 



"In these dreary spots a pimple song draws one's attention to the 

 handsome cock-bird, which sits on a piece of rock cheering his sombre 

 coloured mate brooding in some sunless hole close by, where the ground is 

 covered with rough stones. The nest is compactly built of the finest grass 

 stalks, and lined with feathers. In such an artificial cradle I left five young 

 snow-finches upon a mountain in Finland on the 22nd of June ; they were 

 about a week old." 



They lay from four to six eggs, from the dark colour of the 

 lark's to the light and variegated hue of the greenfinch's ; 

 others spotted over with purple spots. They are about the 

 size of the sky-lark's, the bird a little less, 6-f inches long 

 by 13 ; the bill is yellow, feet black, and iris brown. The 

 plumage, like the eggs, is subject to much variety, hence the 

 multiplication of species. In summer the male has the head, 

 neck, under parts, part of the tail, and a patch on the wing, 

 white ; the rest black ; in winter the upper part of the head, 

 cheeks, and a band on the neck, reddish-brown ; the female 

 similar, but more brown on the head and breast, less white on 

 the wings. The young have the crown of the head yellowish- 

 brown ; throat, chestnut ; nape of neck, yellowish-grey ; wings 

 with some white feathers ; the rest black, edged with white 

 and brown — the mountain-finch of mistaken authors. Instances 

 are recorded of their breeding in Scotland. Macgillivray says 

 he saw a family of eight on the Grampians on the 4th of 

 August 1830 ; but they do not breed here. The other two 

 species are Plect. Lapponiea, formerly known as the Lapland 

 lark bunting, and Plect. Picta, but they are very rare, and 

 I never saw them here to my knowledge, so need not describe 

 them. The next genus which naturally follows the lark 

 buntings is 



