182 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



to the Zoological Society by Mr. Bell, but, unfor- 

 tunately, soon died, the transition from an airy out- 

 door aviary to the hot parrot-room in which it was 

 placed at the gardens, being scarcely desirable for this 

 northern species. 



PLECTROPHANES NIVALIS (Lhmseus). 

 SNOW-BUNTING. 



The Snow-Bunting is a regular winter visitant, its 

 numbers, however, depending much upon the severity 

 of the season, appearing generally by the middle of 

 October, and leaving us again towards the end of March. 

 If the weather becomes very sharp their flocks are 

 increased considerably, and are then found on our open 

 heaths and warrens as well as by the sea-coast. Captain 

 Longe assures me that at Yarmouth he has frequently 

 seen them in winter pecking about in the road with the 

 sparrows, in front of his residence, not far from the 

 beach, and that when disturbed they fly up to the 

 roofs and parapets of the houses with all the tame- 

 ness of their common allies. In describing their first 

 arrival on our coast, Mr. Lubbock says, "They 

 settle the instant they reach terra firma, and often 

 remain for some time on the shingle of the beach, flying 

 a short distance and then alighting in as close a body as 

 possible, so as to have, at a distance, the appearance of 

 a variegated piece of carpet;" to which I may add 

 the following graphic account of this species by Mr. 

 Saxby (Zoologist, p. 9484), as observed by himself in 

 Shetland : " Seen against a dark hill side or a lowering 

 sky, a flock of these birds presents an exceedingly 

 beautiful appearance, and it may then be seen how aptly 

 the term ' snow-flake' has been applied to the species. 



