THE SNOW BUNTING. 207 



repeated, and so on four or five times every day. The Ortolans 

 thus treated become like little balls of fat in a few days. This 

 arises from the absence of waste by motion, in the extra sleep 

 which the birds get, absence of the usual chemical changes from 

 the influence of light, an unusual supply of food from their taking 

 four or five meals a day instead of one, and great facilities for 

 digesting that food in being removed from the view of external 

 objects, which produce anxieties, and hamper the digestion. 



SNOW BUNTING. 



THE SNOW BUNTING (Plectrophanes nivalis). This bird 

 is called by Macgillivray the Snow Lark-bunting. It forms 

 one of the genus Plectrophanes , of which there are but few 

 species, two only being known as British birds. This is 

 sometimes called the Snow or Oat-fowl, or the Snowflake. 

 It has the head, cheeks, and a band on the lower neck light 

 reddish brown ; the back and sides are black, with a broad 

 patch of white across each wing ; the whole of the lower 

 parts of the body are also white. This species measures 

 somewhat over six inches and a half; that is, about the 

 size of the Yellow Bunting, which it also resembles in its 

 form ; but it is readily distinguished by its peculiar colour- 

 ing, in which the white predominates ; hence, probably, the 

 name Snowflake, &c. 



It is as a winter visitant only that we know this bird. 

 During the breeding season it is said to inhabit the Arctic 

 regions, and the islands of the Polar Sea. The most 



