SNOW BUNTING-. 335 



but sweeter and more varied, for in this song the clear flute- 

 like note of the corn bunting is blended with the varying 

 strain of the skylark. 



133. E. NIVALIS, L. Sno Sparf. The Snow Bunting. D. F. 

 Length near 7 in. j two white bands and a long white 

 streak over the closed wings (in the young bird) , or one 

 white band and a large white spot (in the elder bird), 

 or wings very white, with the exception of the black 

 bastard wing and the last two -thirds of the primaries 

 (very old bird) ; the three outer tail feathers white, 

 with or without a black spot on the tip. 

 The old male, when it is at least four years old, has, in 

 the summer dress head, upper wing feathers, and all the 

 under parts, white, with a slight rosy tint ; back and shoul- 

 ders glossy black ; the three outer wing feathers white, with 

 a black spot on the tip of the outer fan ; the fourth black, 

 with a white outer fan. The old female of the same age has 

 in the summer less white on the wings^ and the feathers on 

 the head are blackish grey. In the winter dress the sexes 

 more resemble each other ; the black feathers have then a 

 rusty grey or ash grey tint ; head, neck, and cheeks tinged 

 with chestnut brown, as well as the blackish rump. 



The young bird in the first winter is much darker 

 coloured than the old birds, and, therefore, easily distin- 

 guished even at a distance. 



The breeding haunts of the snow bunting in Scandinavia 

 are on the Lapland fells, and they only appear in the middle 

 and south of the country in autumn and spring, and a few 

 remain in the south during the winter. The very wildest 

 fell tracts seem to be the peculiar summer home of the snow 

 bunting, and although I have seen the birds evidently breed- 

 ing all round me on the Quickiock fells, I never had the luck 

 to find a nest ; which, I fancy, as in the case with the shore 

 lark, is often built under a large stone. In those desolate 

 tracts pretty fell flowers are found in the summer here and 

 there among the thin mosses and lichens, but no green herbs 

 cover the shingle where it is bare of snow, and no trees 



