THE SNOW BUNTING. 113 



others of its species, I am authorized in suspecting that this 

 change arises rather from age. I shall leave the question 

 undecided ; and since we can never see this bird when it has 

 retired in summer within the arctic circle, its native home,, I 

 shall content myself with describing its winter colours, such as 

 we may see them in a room. 



It is the size of a lark, six inches and a half in length, of 

 which the tail measures two and two-thirds. The beak is five 

 or six lines in length, with every characteristic of the bunting 

 species, conical in form, rather bent at the sides, and having a 

 bony tubercle like a grain of barley at the palate ; its colour in 

 the singing season is quite black, at other times the point alone 

 is black, the rest yellow. The back and rump are black, the 

 feathers of the back being edged with white, whilst those of the 

 rump and scapulars are edged with yellowish brown, darker in 

 spring than summer. 



The female is rather smaller, the head and upper part of the 

 neck white, with a mixture of cinnnamon-brown, and trans- 

 verse spots of the same colour form a kind of broken band across 

 the white breast. 



The young ones which are taken in winter are known by their 

 dark brown beak ; the lower part of the back is of the same 

 colour, but their feathers are edged with a light grey. The 

 male has the head most speckled with yellow brown, the cheeks 

 of the female are of the same tint, and it has spots of this on 

 the breast. 



OBSERVATIONS. When the winter is severe, these birds are seen from 

 December to May in many parts of Germany, where they even approach 

 the villages. I am persuaded that, if attention were paid to them, they 

 might be seen in every direction, during March, on their passage to the North ; 

 whilst snow is on the ground they are found in company with larks, on the 

 high roads and in the fields; they may then be taken with horse dung, placed in 

 net, or covered with birdlime, or by clearing a spot of ground of snow and 

 strewing it with oats. I have had a pair six years in my room without a cage, 

 and they are satisfied with the food common for other birds : if kept in a cage, 

 they must be fed on hemp seed, oats, millet, rape, and poppy seeds. They 

 appear much delighted whilst bathing; during the night they seem very 

 uneasy, hopping and running about continually. Their strong and piercing 

 cry resembles a loud whistle ; their song would be rather agreeable were it 

 not interrupted in a peculiar manner ; it is a warbling mingled with some 

 high noisy notes, descending slowly from shrill to deep, and a little strong 

 and broken whistling. Heat is so contrary to their nature, that they cannot 

 be preserved unless carefully guarded from it. 



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