THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



in quest of food, but does not refrain from perching in 

 trees, as some writers have suggested. The nest is made 

 in a crevice of rocks, and well concealed. It is more com- 

 pactly made than that of most Buntings, formed externally 

 of dry grass, roots, and scraps of moss, and lined with 

 finer roots, hair, wool, and feathers. The five or six eggs, 

 sometimes one or two more, are greyish white or very pale 

 blue in ground colour, spotted and blotched less fre- 

 quently pencilled with reddish brown. But one brood 

 is reared in the year 



In breeding plumage the adult male Snow Bunting is 

 mostly black and white ; but in autumn and winter, when 

 it visits us, most of this is concealed by the long fringes 

 of rufous brown that gradually wear away before the 

 summer. Then the head, the wing-coverts, the bases of 

 the primaries, the outer tail-feathers, and the whole of 

 the under parts are white, the remaining plumage black. 

 Bill black ; tarsi and toes black ; irides^brown. Length 

 7 inches. The female is not so brilliant in coloration, 

 and is more mottled with brown, even in summer. The 

 nestling has all the smaller feathers greyish brown, with 

 dark centres, except the under tail-coverts and abdomen. 



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