THE SNOW BUNTING. 187 



white of the wings and tail becomes very conspicuous. 

 They run with great celerity along the sand, not by hops, 

 like the Sparrows and Finches, but in a manner resembling 

 that of the Larks and Pipits ; and when thus occupied, it 

 is not in general difficult to approach them, so that 

 specimens are easily procured. At intervals they make 

 excursions into the neighbouring fields, alight in corn- 

 yards, at barn-doors, or even on the roads, where they 

 obtain seeds of oats, wheat, and weeds, which I have found 

 in them. In the villages along the coast of Lothian, they 

 are sometimes, in spring, nearly as common as Sparrows, 

 and almost as familiar. About the middle of April, or some- 

 times a week later, these birds disappear and betake them- 

 selves to their summer residence." * Its habits, as observed 

 in England, are similar ; but the flocks are generally smaller. 

 In the arctic regions, it is abundant from the middle or 

 end of April to the end of September. Its nest is com- 

 posed of dry grass, neatly lined with deer's hair and a few 

 feathers, and is generally fixed in the crevice of a rock or 

 in a loose pile of timber or stones. In spring it feeds 

 principally on the buds of Saxifraga oppositifolia, one of 

 the earliest of the arctic plants ; during winter, on grass 

 seeds. Peculiar interest attaches to the Snow Bunting, from 

 the fact that it is (according to Linnaeus) the only living 

 animal that has been seen two thousand feet above the 

 line of perpetual snow in the Lapland Alps. Mention of 

 it frequently occurs in books of Arctic travels. I must 

 not omit to state that the specimens obtained in Great 

 Britain vary so considerably in the proportions of white 

 and tawny in their plumage, that there were at one time 

 considered to be three several species. In Norfolk, I have 

 seen them in severe weather flocking with Larks, among 

 which they make themselves so conspicuous by the white 

 portion of their plumage, as to be popularly known by the 

 name of "White-winged Larks." 



* Macgillivray's " British Birds," vol. i. p. 404. 



