THE LAPLAND BUNTING. 125 



feeders, and ran about very actively wherever there was any bare ground ; but 

 before the snow had entirely disappeared the Lapland Buntings had also taken 

 their departure, and we did not meet with them again until we had passed the 

 limit of forest growth. On migration they repeatedly perched in trees, and when 

 disturbed generally sought refuge in a tree. Like the Shore-Lark and the Snow- 

 Bunting, the Lapland Bunting occasionally hops ; its flight is quick and powerful, 

 but more undulating than that of the Snow-Bunting. In its song the Lapland 

 Bunting reminds one both of the Snow-Bunting and the Tree-Pipit. The notes 

 are not very loud, but are musical, and are continued for some time ; and every 

 now and then a curious note is introduced which sounds like c/teng, the consonants, 

 both at the beginning and the end, being pronounced gutturally, as in German. 

 This note is also frequently repeated alone, and is probably the note of endearment 

 between the sexes.* The song is generally heard when the bird is flying in the 

 air, soaring like a Lark, and is continued until the bird alights on some grassy 

 knoll or stunted bush, descending with outspread wings and tail. What I take 

 to be the alarm-note of this bird is a plaintive but loud chee-up, often heard near 

 its nest. The female has a song almost as rich as that of the male. The Lapland 

 Bunting is not such a coast-bird as the Snow-Bunting, and seeks the swampiest 

 ground it can find so long as there are dry tussocks of grass full of flowers where 

 it can breed ; if there are also a few stunted willows or birches upon which it can 

 perch, so much the better. The nest is almost always placed in some hole in the 

 side of one of the little mounds or tussocks which abound on the marshy parts of 

 the tundra ; it is composed of dry grass and roots, and profusely lined with feathers. 

 The eggs of the Lapland Bunting are from four to six in number, and differ very 

 much both in size and colour. They vary in ground-colour from pale grey to pale 

 brown, more or less obscured by a profusion of underlying blotches and streaks, 

 which vary in colour from yellowish-brown to reddish-brown ; the overlying 

 markings are generally much fewer, and are principally streaks mixed with a few 

 blotches and spots of dark reddish-brown." (Hist. British Birds, Vol. II, pp. 132, 



133). 



Herr Ga'tke states that this species, in its character, " is altogether unlike the 



Snow Bunting, having nothing of the boisterousness and wildness of that species, 

 but being of a gentle and quiet disposition. Indeed, I have frequently for years 

 kept it confined in a cage, and its melodious, if somewhat melancholy, tune has 

 given me much enjoyment during many a summer night spent at my desk over 

 these pages. The song of the Snow-Bunting has exactly the same character ; but 



* If, however, as is now generally believed the songs of birds are sung in rivalry, this note would probably 

 represent the chink of the Chaffinch, or the zshweeo of the Greenfinch, and would be a note of defiance. A.G.B. 



