94 OUR RARER BIRDS 



Bunting is regarded as the forerunner of a long and severe 

 winter. 



It has been stated in works on ornithology that the Snow 

 Bunting never perches in a tree. He cannot well do so in 

 the usual districts he frequents, far above the northern limits 

 of such vegetation, for the simple reason that trees do not exist ; 

 but in this country I have repeatedly seen flocks of Snow 

 Buntings perch in trees, and I have shot them from the 

 branches. I have also seen them perch on telegraph wires. 

 The same erroneous impression widely prevails respecting 

 Wagtails ; but they perch freely in trees, and the Gray Wag- 

 tail especially takes refuge in a tree, when flushed from the 

 bed of the dancing upland -stream. The Snow Bunting, 

 however, obtains its food on the ground, and this is chiefly 

 composed of seeds of various kinds during the bird's sojourn 

 in this country. In its summer home insects form its princi- 

 pal food, but it also eats the buds of plants. During excep- 

 tionally hard weather the Snow Bunting frequents the hard 

 country roads, hopping about along the tracks made by the 

 farmers' carts, and feeding on the droppings from the horses. 

 It will also venture near to man's habitation when the snow 

 is too deep for it to reach the seeds of grasses and weeds, and 

 pick up a meal from the corn-stacks. After a heavy fall of 

 snow, flocks of these birds may sometimes be seen wheeling 

 and flying about in a very erratic and undecided manner ; 

 and they soon desert a district if the ground remains long 

 covered, returning when the thaw begins. Snow Buntings 

 leave our coasts early in spring, being amongst the 

 first birds to arrive in the arctic regions after the winter is 

 over. 



Of the habits of the Snow Bunting during the breeding 

 season I know nothing from personal observation. Specimens 

 of its nest which I have examined are very pretty structures, 

 made of dry grass, roots, moss, and slender twigs, and lined 



