SNOW BUNTING. 477 



Temminck states them to be very abundant, particularly 

 by the sea-side, a partiality evinced by them in our own 

 country. In Austria, Pennant says, they are caught and 

 fed with millet, and like the Ortolan Bunting, grow ex- 

 cessively fat. Two instances are recorded in which this 

 bird was taken as far south as Genoa, and once at Malta 

 in 1840. From all the southern districts, on the approach 

 of spring, they again return to the northern latitudes from 

 whence they came. 



An adult bird, on its arrival here towards winter, has 

 the beak yellow, the tip almost black ; irides hazel ; top 

 of the head and the ear-coverts reddish brown ; the fea- 

 thers on the back black at the base, with broad ends of 

 pale reddish brown ; wing-coverts and tertials white ; the 

 spurious wing, primaries, and secondaries black, with nar- 

 row white tips and external edges ; upper tail-coverts 

 tawny and white ; three outer tail-feathers on each side 

 white, tipped with black ; the others black, edged with 

 white ; all the under surface of the body dull white, tinged 

 with reddish brown on the breast and flanks ; legs, toes, 

 and claws, black ; the hind claw elongated and almost 

 straight. In this state it has been called the Tawny 

 Bunting. In summer the brown tips of the feathers on the 

 back having fallen off, leave that part black ; the want of 

 the rusty brown on the head and breast leave those parts 

 white ; in this state it is called the Snow Bunting ; and an 

 example in this its fine white summer plumage, was killed 

 at Eoyston in Hertfordshire, on the 22nd of May 1840. 

 This specimen was given to me by my friend Thomas 

 Wortham, Esq. on whose grounds it was shot. In this 

 state of plumage it is very rare, except in high northern 

 latitudes. When presenting less white than the figure 

 here given, it is a young bird in the state called the 



