SNOW BUNTING SNOWFLAKE. 



Snow Bunting This is an essentially beautiful winter bird 



Snowflake whose music is not equal to his aesthetic 



Passertna 



nivalis coloring, but whose cheery appearance in 



L. 6.80 inches midwinter in the farmyards of our most 

 November ist northern States is hailed with delight. He 

 to April ist j g after tne remnants of scattered grain. 



The Snow Bunting is the one sparrowlike bird which 

 may be described as nearly white, though there is some- 

 what of brown and burnt sienna to be reckoned with in 

 an inventory of his colors. In summer the male is white 

 excepting back, shoulders, and inner tail feathers, the 

 end half of the primary feathers and the inner secondary 

 feathers of the wings; these are all black. The female 

 at this season is streaked throughout the upper parts 

 with black of a dull tone, and the wing feathers are 

 sepia brown. In winter the male is tinged throughout 

 the upper parts with burnt sienna more or less modified 

 by the black bases of the feathers; wings and tail are 

 similarly suffused with burnt sienna which tips and 

 edges the feathers; the same color washes the breast and 

 sides. The female at this season is similarly marked, but 

 the primaries are sepia brown. The nest is built on the 

 ground: the materials used are plant fibres, grasses, and 

 moss. Egg blue- white heavily marked with red-brown. 

 The bird breeds only in the arctic regions, and migrates 

 south in winter to the more northern States including 

 Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, the coast of Virginia, and 

 Massachusetts. It feeds exclusively on seeds, and is 

 generally accustomed to move in rather large flocks; 

 often it is seen on the coast in association with the 

 Shorelark. The bird walks, and never progresses by hop- 

 ping; it is essentially a ground bird, and seldom if ever 

 takes to a tree unless pursued, preferring rather a fence or 

 a roof. Mr. Ernest E. Thompson says, *' As long as the 

 snow lasts the Snowflake stays, and as soon as the 

 ground grows bare . . . this bird of winter betakes 

 himself again to the north, as far as ever human foot has 

 been, and there builds his nest." 



Of the song of the Snow Burning I think very livtle 

 is known. Pennant says, " They breed in Greenland, 

 arrive there in April, and make their nests in the 



