96 60ME CANADIAN BIRDS. 



made warm with nioss and dry grass, and feathers, and the mother- 

 bird sits close above her darlings till the young blood grows rich and 

 strong, and feathers come to protect their midget bodies from the 

 frosty air. Four or five young are usually in a brood, sometimes 

 six, and they emerge bare and helpless from eggs that are 

 exquisitely beautiful. A soft bluish white is the ground color, and 

 on this, gathered about the larger end, are spots of reddish brown 

 and lavender. 



In size the bird is about half way between a house sparrow — the 

 ** tramp " I mean, that "ruffian in feathers" — and a robin. When 

 on the wing the plumage appears to be white, chiefly, with some few 

 splashes of a dark tint ; but when in the hand the dark color, which 

 proves to be black, bordered by tawny brown, is found to cover a 

 great part of the back, wings and tail. In summer much of the 

 black is replaced by white. 



The snow buntings visit all parts of Canada, though they do not, 

 as a rule, enter the large towns. Tou may find them on the out- 

 skirts of the villages and about the barn-yards, but they seldom stray 

 far from the woodlands. During their stay here they do not sing, 

 and we hear little from them but a metallic cheep, which sounds 

 rather merrily when uttered by a flock of the birds as they feed 

 and chatter ; but Mr. Hagerup has written me that during the 

 nesting season, in Greenland, they sing a sweet and beautiful song 

 which he describes as " delivered in short stanzas." 



