490 Mr. C. A. Wright's Fourth Appendix to a 



examples have been taken; and on the 10th and 11th of No- 

 vember, 1869, I picked up two males in the market. 



Emberiza nivalis (Ibis, 1864, p. 55). Returning on the 13th 

 of November, 1869, from an nnsuccessful morning's excursion, 

 having met with nothing but such common birds as pass the 

 winter with us, my attention was attracted by a solitary bird, of 

 somewhat strange appearance, pecking on the ground in a moist 

 salt bit of waste land at the inner part of the Saliui. It had 

 doubtless chosen this spot as being most sheltered from the vio- 

 lence of a north-easterly gale which w^as then blowing. On 

 shooting it I could hardly believe my eyes at the unexpected 

 sight of a Snow-bunting lying before me — a traveller, possibly 

 from the icy shores of Spitsbergen ! It was a male in one of 

 its most attractive states of plumage — pure white predominating. 



Sitting down beside it and gazing upon it with mixed feelings 

 of surprise, admiration and delight, not unmixed with regret that 

 the pursuit of our favourite study should involve the occasional 

 destruction of such pretty creatures, it was some time before I 

 raised it from the ground ; then, carefully smoothing its finely- 

 varied plumage and plugging the shot-holes, which, fortunately, 

 w^ere not extensive or numerous, I walked on with a light step, 

 excogitating on the strange chance that had brought me across 

 this waif from the north. 



As the Snow-Bunting seldom pushes its autumnal and winter 

 migrations below the north of France and Germanj', its presence 

 in Malta is very extraordinary ; and this island is the most 

 southern point at which it has yet been observed*. It is not 

 included by Dr. Salvadori in his catalogue of the birds of Sar- 

 dinia ; nor is any mention of it made by Beuoit or Loche as a 

 visitor in Sicily or North Africa. 



Reguliis cristatus (Ibis, 1864, p. 55). One of these birds flew 

 into an open window of my house at Sliema on a cloudy day in 

 November, 1869, and was caught. It appears to be a regular 

 migrant in spring and autumn, and is most usually met with in 

 the orange-groves for which the island is so famous. 



Cypselus melba (Ibis, 1864, p. 58). A flock of about twenty 



* [It has, however, beeu recorded from Tangier (Ibis, 18G7, p. 427). 



—Ed.] 



