SNOW-BIRD. ORTOLAN. RICE-BUNTING. 21? 



the air with its loud pipe. It is sometimes kept in cages, 

 and then it continues its music through the greater part 

 of the year. 



THE SNOW-BIRD. 



This bird has obtained various names. By some it is 

 called the pied-mountain-finch ; and in Scotland it 

 receives the name of the snow-flake, from its white wings, 

 and its appearance in hard weather and deep snows. 

 About that season it arrives at the Highlands in prodi- 

 gious flocks, and some few breed there on the summits of 

 the highest hills ; but by far the greater part migrate from 

 countries more northerly. Its appearance in temperate 

 latitudes is a certain indication of severe weather in its 

 native haunts. In the flights of these birds they keep 

 very close together, intermingle most confusedly, and 

 roll themselves collectively into the form of a ball, which 

 enables the fowler to bring down numbers of them at a 

 single shot. 



THE ORTOLAN. 



This bird, the flesh of which is reckoned such a delicate 

 morsel by epicures, feeds principally on panic-grass. It 

 is found in most parts of Europe, except Great Britain. 

 The wings are black, the first three feathers of the tail 

 are white on their edges, and the head is greenish. 



In its migrations from one country to another, numbers 

 are caught, and artificially fattened for the table. The 

 song of the ortolan is not unpleasant, and it is sometimes 

 preserved in cages on that account. 



THE RICE-BUNTING. 



The head and whole under-side of this bird are black : 

 the held part of the neck a whitish yellow; and the coverts 

 of the wings and the primaries are black ; as is also the 

 back, with some tints of white and yellow. 



These birds inhabit the island of Cuba in prodigious 

 numbers, where they commit vast depredations on the 



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