SNOW BUNTING. 145 



air, the snowbirds, undulating between the white 

 earth and sky, seem like wandering spirits that 

 are a part of the all-pervading whiteness. Tho- 

 reau says, " they are the true spirits of the snow- 

 storm. They are the animated beings that ride 

 upon it and have their life in it." 



Mr. Allen, in speaking of our winter birds, 

 says : " The beautiful snow buntings when whirl- 

 ing from field to field in compact flocks, their 

 white wings glistening in the sunlight, form one 

 of the most attractive sights of winter." He adds 

 that they are the " bad weather birds " of the su- 

 perstitious, as they usually appear mysteriously 

 during snowstorms and disappear in the weeks 

 of fine weathej. He says : " Cold, half -arctic 

 countries being their chosen home, they only 

 favor us with their presence during those short 

 intervals when their food in the northern fields 

 is too deeply buried ; and being strong of wing 

 and exceedingly rapid in flight, they can in a few 

 hours leave the plain for the mountain, or migrate 

 hundreds of miles to the northward." 



Late in December I have seen a flock of them 

 flying over the meadows with the rhythmical un- 

 dulating motion of their cousins the goldfinches, 

 twittering ter-ra-lee, ter-ra-lee, ter-ra-lee as they 

 went. Now and then they would light for a mo- 

 ment to pick at the seeds appearing above the 

 snow, but soon they swept on toward the north. 



