THE SNOW BUNTIXG. 401 



Family FiuxGiLLin.i:. Finches, SrAUROAVs. 



In this ^■cry largo and generally (.listributod groiH) are many of tlic best 

 singing-birds, and some of the most elegant plumtiged of all the feathered 

 tribes. 



There is a very great variety of forms in this group, as the Buntings, Lin- 

 nets, Sparrows, Grosbeaks, Crossbills, "NA'eaver IJirds, itc. The family 

 is divided systematically by Professor Lilljeborg, as f 



oiiows : 



/ 10. Culmcu of bill fxtoivlinc,^ at tj;iso hi^twocn frontiil 



, Xi,mli,i- nf I fra'lRTS ri.o.niN.K. 



FR1XGILLID.E.{ -,.'",':,'■ (, williout tiili-ioU. or li.luv riMN.ilLLIN.E. 



"'"■""" j II. r^ilatc .^ with tiil«rcK. or rhl-v. I.„w.r mmi.liMi- 



The Z7/HJe;7'.;/»(t', or Buntings, are distril.iuted tliroughout botli the Old and 

 New A^'orlds. At tiio apiiroach of winter they associate in flocks, and those 

 who spend tiie summer in high latitudes generally migrate to lower ones. 

 In the breeding season they usually scatter in pairs over the open countries, 

 preferring such to more wooded sections. " Their flight is rapid, and is 

 generally performed in short distances from one bu.-h to anotlicr ; in their 

 migrations their flight is usually undidatcd and quick. The food of these 

 birds consists principally of seeds of various plants, grasses, and reeds ; and 

 in the wanner parts of the year, insettts and their lar\a' form a portion of 

 their sub.^istence. They generally build their nest in low bushes, or upon 

 the ground among the tufts of grass; it is composed of dried grasses, inter- 

 nally lined with finer grass, hairs, and sometimes other softer materials ; 

 the eggs are usually from four to six in number."' Among these birds the 

 Snow Bunting {Ph-clropluiiies nicfilis) is well known in Ijoth worlds. 



This is a common winter visitor in most parts of the United States, and 

 is abundant in localities near the sea-coast. A\'e ha\e seen flocks of hun- 

 dreds of individuals in the marshes in Plymouth County, Mass., and have 

 almost always noticed that thev were accompanied bv Shore-larks and Bed- 

 polls. They feed on seeds of various wilil plants and small shell-fish, and 

 become, during their stay here, very fat, and are accounted as delicate eating 

 by epicures, for whose tables they are killed in great numbers. 



The following interesting account of the habits of this species is by Wil- 

 son. It is partly compiled from the observations of IMr.' Pennant : — 



''These birds," says Mr. Pennant, " inhai)it not only Greenland, but 

 even the dreadful climate of Spitzliergen, where vegetation is nearly extinct, 

 and scarcely any but rnjpfogamous: plants are found. It therefore excites 

 wonder how birds, wliich are graminivorous in every other than those frost- 

 bound regions, subsist, yet are there found in great flocks, both on the land 

 and ice of Spitzbergen. They annually pass to this country by way of 

 NO. XI. 51 



