35$ SNOW BUNTING, 



forked; three outmoft feathers white; the thh'd black, tipt wltFi- 

 white ; the reft wholly black : legs black : hind claw long, but not 

 fo ftrait as that of the Lark. Vv eight one ounce five drams ; 

 Length fix inches and a half: Extent ten.. 

 Place. The earlieft of the migratory birds of Uiiijon's Bay. Appeared in 



Hubsom's Bay. ^^^^^ ^^ Severn fettlement, on April nth ; flayed about a month or 

 five weeks ; then proceeded farther north to breed *. Return in 

 September ;, ftay till November, when the fevere Xrofts drive them 

 fouthward. Live in flocks : feed on grafs feeds, apd are con-' 

 verfant about dunghills : are eafily caught, under a fmall net baited 

 with oatmeali and are very delicate meat. I am not certain of the 

 winter retreat of thefe birds out of Htidfon's Bay ; but having (ttn^ 

 one of this fpecies among thofe fent to Mrs. Blackburn from Niw 

 Tork, I imagine that they fpread over the more fouthern parts of 

 North Amirica in the rigorous feafooj as they do over Europe in the 

 fame period.. 

 €hance op Thefe birds have a fummer and a winter drefs. The firft we- 



«oLOR. have defcribcd. Againft the rigorous feafon they become white on: 



their head, neck, and whole under fide : great part of their- wings,. 

 and the rump, afTumes the fame color : the back, and middle fea- 

 thers of the tail, are black. But Linnaus, who was very well ac- 

 quainted with this fpecies, fays, that they vary according to age and 

 feafon. Mr. Graham fent to the Royal Society two fpecimens ; one 

 in its fummer feathers, which exaftly anfwered to our Tawny 

 Bunting, N" 121 ; the other, to our Snow Bunting, N" 122, ia 

 k& winter feathers. On this evidence,, I beg the readers of the Britijh 

 iflies to confider the above as one and the fame fpecies- 



Hudforfs Bay is not the fartheft of their northern migrations.. 



©REEHLAMD. xhcy inhabit not only Greenland -f, but even the dreadful climate of 



Spitzbergen, where vegetation is nearly extinft, and fcarcely any 



but cryptogamiaus plants are found.' It therefore excites wonder, how 



* Siil, Tranf. Ixii. 4P3:» f Crantz, J. 7,7s- 



birds^. 



