THE SNO W UNTING. /65 



THE SNOW BUNTING, 



( Pkctrophanes nivalis.) 



PLATE X. FIGURE I. 



THIS pretty and lively little bird dwells for half the year in the 

 cold and desolate Arctic Regions, and the islands of the Polar Seas. 

 Here, during what it seems a mockery to call summer, it builds its 

 nest and rears its young. It also breeds in Iceland, Lapland, Siberia, 

 Norway, Sweden, and other northern countries, only forsaking these parts 

 during the winter months, when it visits the British Isles, Germany, 

 Austria, France, and even Italy. It arrives on the shores of the Orkney 

 and Shetland Isles about the middle of October, and by the end of the 

 month becomes dispersed over the greater part of Scotland and England. 

 Large flocks may be frequently seen in the northern districts, but a 

 few individuals only reach the south. Mr. Saxby gives the following 

 graphic account of this species as observed by him 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. I 

 am acquainted with no more pleasing combination of sight and sound 

 than that afforded when a number of these birds, backed by a dark 

 grey sky, drop as it were in a shower to the ground, to the music 

 of their own sweet tinkling notes." Macgillivray thinks it probable 

 that the Snow Bunting breeds on the higher Grampians, as on one 

 occasion he saw a flock of eight individuals which evidently consisted 

 of two old birds with their young family. 



Plectron a spur, pliaino to show, and nivalis snowy, are the words 

 from which this interesting little bird derives its specific name. During 

 frost and snow it frequents the neighbourhood of the sea-shore, but 

 retires inland when the weather is mild. In this country it feeds on 

 oats, wheat, barley, and other seeds, and also on small insects, but 

 in the bleak regions of the Pole it subsists on the seeds of the 



