1580 THE PERCHING BIRDS 



that a considerable number of snow buntings pass the summer in the Faroes, where, 

 on the south islands, they are restricted to the mountain tops; although, on the 

 northern ones, they frequent the lower grounds in smaller colonies. Throughout 

 Iceland the species is perhaps the commonest of small birds, a pair or more being 

 established in nearly every convenient locality, even among the most desolate lava 

 streams; and it breeds there almost on the sea level as well as up to the snow line. 

 As is shown by the accumulation of old materials often found therein, the birds 

 commonly use the same nest hole more than once. The eggs vary from four to six 

 in number, and are white in ground color, more or less tinged with pale greenish 

 blue, splashed with dull lilac, and spotted with brownish red. They are laid in a 

 nest built of dry grass and roots lined with hair or soft feathers, especially those of 

 the ptarmigan. The snow bunting has occasionally nested, and even hatched its 

 young in confinement; but we are not aware of the young having been brought to 

 maturity under artificial conditions. The adult male has the crown ruddy brown- 

 ish black; the scapulars are black, edged with reddish brown; the primaries black; 

 the secondaries white, the outer ones being marked on both edges with black; the 

 central tail feathers are black tipped with white; the under tail feathers white 

 streaked with black on the outer edges; a rusty band crosses the breast, and the 

 lower parts are white. In summer the light tips to the feathers of the upper parts 

 are shed, and the bird then appears to be black and white, black predominating. 



One of the most widely distributed of small birds is the Lapland 

 bunting (Calcarius lapponicus) ,a circumpolar bird, inhabiting the high 

 northern regions only during the summer months, and migrating south- 

 ward to more congenial winter quarters before the arrival of frost and snow in its 

 northern home. It is also found throughout the northern parts of North America. 

 During the summer season this bird frequents the fell mosses of Norway and 

 Sweden, especially such as are covered with grass and willow scrub and are 

 situated below the snow region. Not inhabiting the high mountains on which 

 the snow bunting breeds, it prefers the upland swamps, and Mr. Seebohm states 

 that in Northern Europe the Lapland bunting seeks the swampiest ground it can 

 find, so long as there are tussocks of dry grass full of flowers where it can breed. 

 If there be also a few stunted willows or birches upon which it can perch, so much 

 the better. The nest is nearly always placed in some hole in a side of the little 

 mounds or tussocks abounding on the marshy parts of the tundra, and is com- 

 posed of dry grass and roots, and profusely lined with feathers. The eggs vary 

 from pale gray to pale brown in ground color, and are streaked with dark brown 

 with underlying blotches of brown. Nests of this species found in Norway were 

 built of dry grass and lined with feathers; one in particular being lined with the 

 feathers of a snipe, and thus having an unusually pretty appearance. The newly- 

 hatched young are said to be clothed with dark brown. The song of this bunting, 

 which is sweet and musical, is usually poured forth when the bird is in the air, soar- 

 ing like a lark, and is continued until it alights on some grassy knoll or stunted 

 bush. Oddly enough, the female has almost as rich a song as the male. Formerly 

 the Lapland bunting rarely straggled so far westward as the British Isles during its 

 autumnal migration, but nowadays it not only breeds nearer than it used to do, but 



