FIUNGILLIILK — TIIK FIXCIIl'X 513 



dinuront situntior.s. On St. Alicliiicl's Islmul lie never s;i\v one uf this .s])e- 

 cies lar iVoni llie .slinre, wliile the oilier species wiis alnniilanl cverywliero in 

 tlio interior oF the ishuid. Dnrini;' tiie snninier he never saw more than one 

 or two of these liirds at one.e, nor anywhere excopt on I'ocky [loints or on 

 small roeky islands near tiie shore. These localities they .seemed to slmre 

 with the li'avens and I'utlins. In tiie autumn they are more ,ure;;arious, Imt 

 still seem to prei'er the vicinity oi' water. Mr. Bunnister also observed this 

 bird at I'nalaklik, where it is common 



Wilson was of the opinion that tliese binls derive a considerable part of 

 their food from tlie seeds of certain aipiatic plants, and tins liesn]pposi'd one 

 of the principal reasons wliy tliey prefer remote ucjrtliern regions intersected 

 with streams, ponds, lakes, antl arms of the sea, aboundin,ii; with such ])lants. 

 On Seneca liiver, near J.ake Ontario, in Octol)er, he met with a lari,'e Hock 

 feeding on the surface of the water, supported on the elo.se tops of weeds tliat 

 rose i'roni the bottom. They were running aliont with great activity, and 

 the stomachs of those he shot were tilled not only with the seeds of that 

 plant, but also with nnnnte shell-iisli that adhered to the leaves. 



Iiiehardson states that this sj)ecit's breeds in the most northern of our 

 Arctic islands, and on all the shores of the continent, from Chesterfield's Inlet 

 to Behring Strait. The most southerly of its breeding-iilaces known to him 

 was Southampton Lsland, in fla; (iL'd jiarallel, where Captain Lyons found 

 a nest on the grave <tf an Ks(piin)aux ciuld. Its nest was usually maile 

 of dry grass, neatly lined with deer's hair and a few leathers, and is gen- 

 erally fixed in the crevice of ii rock, or in a loo.se pile of tindiers or stones. 

 The eggs are described as of a greenish-white, with a circle of irregidar 

 umber-bi'own spots round the larger end, with numerous blotches of subducil 

 lavender-jjurple. didy L'2, in removing some drift timber on a beach at 

 Cape I'arry, he disco\ered a nest on th(! ground, containing tour young Snow- 

 birds. Care was taken not to injure them, and while they were .seated at 

 breakfast, at a distance of only two or three feet, the ])arent birds made fre- 

 quent visits to their oifspring, each time bringing grubs v.i their Idlls. The 

 Snctwbirds are in no apparent haste to leave for tiie South on the ap]iroach 

 of whiter, lait linger about the forts and open places, jiicking up .seeds, until 

 the snow heccnnes too tleej). It is not until Decendier or January that they 

 retire to the south of the Saskatchewan. It returns to that river about the 

 middle of February, by April it has reached the (ioth parallel, and by the 

 beginning of May it is hiund on the shores of the Polar Sea. At this period 

 it feeds on the buds of the Sarifrdi/n <i/iiiiisl/ij'i}/itt, one of the earliest of the 

 Arctic jdants. The young are fed with insects. 



The Snow lUmting is also an iidiabitant, during the breeding-season, of 

 the Arctic regions of Kurope and Asia, and the islands of ihe Arctic Sea. 

 Scoresby states tiiat it resorts in large Hocks lo the shores of Spitzbergen, and 

 Cajjtain Sabine includes it among the birds of <Jreenland and the Xortli 

 (Jeorgiau Islands, where it is among the earliest arrivals. Mr. I'roctor, who 



