138 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



bean, of a white colour, thinly sprinkled with rusty 

 dots at the larger end. 



SNOW BUNTING.* 



SNOW BUNTINGS occasionally occur with us during 

 the winter months, and are often called white larks. 

 I note this, from White's mentioning that white 

 larks had been supposed to have been seen now and 

 then about Selborne in the winter -time, and his 

 suggesting that they might have belonged to this 

 species. 



COMMON BUNTING.f 



THE common bunting, which "White speaks of as 

 a rare bird at Selborne, is extremely abundant in 

 the open corn-lands of Cambridgeshire, where it is 

 called the bunting lark. In winter-time they col- 

 lect in flocks, and frequently assemble in large 

 quantities on the bare twigs of some tall thorn, 

 where they sit by the hour together uttering their 

 harsh monotonous notes, not deserving the name 

 of a song. Varieties of this bird, more or less spot- 

 ted and variegated with white, are not uncommon : 

 they sometimes occur wholly white, and are then 

 called by the common people white larks, like the 

 species last mentioned. 



* Plectrophanes nivalis, Meyer. f Emberiza miliaria, Linn. 



