SNOW BUNTING. 499 



and on the Faroe Islands. Mr. Hewitson, in his notes on 

 the Ornithology of Norway, printed in the Magazine of 

 Zoology, says, " We saw the Snow Buntings in their beau- 

 tiful plumage of black and white, and found a single nest 

 with the young under some loose stones." In Sweden this 

 bird inhabits the highest hills in summer, and valleys in 

 winter. M tiller includes it as a bird of Denmark. Dr. 

 Neill, Dr. Fleming, and Mr. Dunn, mention the Snow 

 Bunting as a winter visitor to Shetland and Orkney ; and 

 Dr. Fleming adds that in Zetland it is called Oatfowl, 

 from the preference which it gives to that kind of grain. 



Sir William Jardine, Bart., of Applegarth,' Dumfries- 

 shire, whose extensive acquirements in various branches of 

 Natural History are so well known, has most liberally sup- 

 plied me with valuable information from his own notes on 

 the localities of our birds in Scotland; and under the head 

 of the Snow Bunting, quoting from his communication, I 

 find that this bird is common in Dumfriesshire during the 

 winter, frequenting the sheep pasture lands, at an elevation 

 of from fifteen hundred to two thousand feet, descending 

 in severe weather to lower ranges. In very severe times, 

 it is shot on the banks of the Annan and in the holm lands 

 adjoining ; is common on the Alpine ranges of the upper 

 part of Tweed-dale, and always to be seen from the high 

 road when travelling that country in winter ; frequents the 

 Pentland Hills, Portobello Sands, Middleton Muir at the 

 head of Gala Water, and is said to be frequent in winter 

 on all the sub-alpine ranges in the south of Scotland, de- 

 scending to the shore in very severe weather. 



We are indebted to Mr. Macgillivray for interesting 

 observations on this species in the Hebrides, and also in 

 Scotland : they are as follows : " The earliest period at 

 which, according to my note-books, I have observed the 

 Snowflake in the outer Hebrides, was on Sunday, the 28th 



K K 2 



