THE SNOW-BUNTING. 33 



the female bird as in the male, and the protecting plumage 

 on the under part is much more. From the time that the 

 male begins his song to that at which he retires to moult, he 

 is much on the wing, and sometimes his feathers are injured in 

 combat. But even in those species in which the male takes 

 turn with the female in the labour of incubation, his turn is 

 short in proportion, and he never loses feathers to the same 

 extent, or generally to any extent that can be perceived. 

 Thus ho merely keeps the nest warm, in a more efficient 

 manner than the same is sometimes done by dry leaves or 

 feathers ; but the feathers which are between prevent him 

 from communicating much of his own heat. 



Thus, if we study the general condition and habits of the 

 two sexes, we should arrive at the very same conclusion 

 which we find actually taking place. In the early part of the 

 cold season, the female, like the young birds, is in better 

 feather for migrating, but worse for staying, than the adult 

 male ; and hence in such migrations as those of the snow- 

 bunting, the females come earlier than the males, and find 

 their way farther to the south ; so that they, as well as the 

 young, are met with in places which the male, and especially 

 the male in the winter plumage in which it is the snow- 

 flake, or snow-bunting never reaches. The same habit 

 appears, though less decidedly, in all the autumnal migratory 

 birds, even in those that merely shift from one part of Britain 

 to another. 



The male in the winter plumage, which is the only perfect 

 plumage in which it appears in Britain, is pure white, with 

 the exception of the back, the middle coverts, and partially 

 the quills and central feathers of the tail, which remain black ; 

 but the change to white, like that in the ptarmigan, is more 

 or less complete according to circumstances. They come in 

 great numbers to the northern isles and north parts of the 

 highlands of Scotland, always white in proportion as the 



VOL. II. D 



