THE SNOW-BUNTING 129 



obtainable in June and July, although in Iceland it nests as early as May ; it 

 chooses heaps of stones, crevices in rocks or behind boulders, or piles of drift-wood 

 in which to build. 



The nest is bulky and constructed of dry grass, rootlets, sometimes birch or 

 other twigs, and a little moss : it is lined with down, hair, and a quantity of feathers. 

 The eggs number from four to eight ; six or seven being (according to Seebohm) 

 a usual clutch. Both in size and colouring they vary considerably, the ground- 

 colour being creamy or greyish-white, or pale greenish, spotted and blotched with 

 chocolate, and occasionally striated with blackish ; the shell-markings are pale 

 reddish-brown and lavender ; most of the markings are usually collected towards 

 or at the larger extremity. 



The food during the breeding- season consists largely of insects, but at other 

 times all kinds of seed are eaten, as well as corn. John Cordeaux says (Birds of 

 the Humber District) : " The little Snow-flake will find food and thrive in the 

 severest winters, after all our small feathered friends have been driven by frost and 

 snow from the cold and exposed marshes, feeding on the seeds of various grasses 

 picked from the withered bents rising above the carpet of snow. They are nearly 

 always excessively fat." " Roosts generally amongst rough grass on the pastures." 



During incubation, the male bird is in full song, its notes being heard both 

 when perched or fluttering in the air, like a Tree- Pipit : the song is described as 

 a melodious warble, similar to that of the Lapland Bunting and Shore-Lark ; when 

 flocks of this and other species are flying together they are said to twitter after 

 the manner of other Finches ; the alarm note is described as a loud (week, and the 

 bird has another note resembling the harsh zshweeo of the Greenfinch and Brambling, 

 but Lord Lilford's observations * prove that this is not the call-note ; it is more 

 probably a note of defiance : indeed Saxby probably means this note in his 

 description of " the sudden jarring sound which is uttered by the bird when suddenly 

 directing its course towards a neighbour. That the note in question is sometimes 

 one of anger I have repeatedly observed when two of the birds have been quarrelling 

 over their food." (Birds of Shetland, p. 91.) 



As a cage-bird, the Snow-Bunting, in spite of Herr Gatke's adverse estimate, 

 is pretty generally admired ; and is very frequently exhibited at shows. Stevenson's 

 opinion of the species certainly differed widely from that of the veteran of Heligo- 

 land, for he says : " In confinement, I have found the Snow-Buntings very gentle 

 in disposition and extremely affectionate to one another, forming an amiable 

 contrast in both respects to the Brambling Finches. A pair, which were kindly 

 sent me for my aviary in 1862, by Mr. Fowler, of Gunton, near Lowestoft, netted 



Mr. Harting also (Birds of Middlesex, p. 75) likens the call-note to that of the Linnet. 

 VOL. II. X 



