S N O W . B U N T I N G. 



birds, which are graminivorous in every other than thefe froft- 

 bound regions, fubfift : yet are there found in great flocks, both 

 on the land and ice of 'Spitzhergsn *. They annually pafs to this 

 country byway of Norway : for in the fpring, flocks innumerable 

 appear, efpecially on the Norwegian ifles ; continue only three 

 weeks, and then at once difappear -j-. As they do not breed in 

 Uudfon's Bay, it is certain that many retreat to this lad of lands, 

 and totally uninhabited,, to perform in full fecurity the duties of 

 love, incubation, and nutrition. That they breed in Spitzbergen is; 

 very probable ; but we are aflured that they do fo In Greenland. 

 They arrive there in April, and make their nefl:s in the fifllires of 

 the rocks, on the mountains, in May : the outfide of their nefl: is 

 grafs ; the middle of feathers -, and the lining the down of the 

 Jr£fic Fo!f, They lay five eggs,, white,, fpotted with brown : they 

 ling finely near their neft. 



They are caught by the boys in autunin, when they colledl near 

 the Ihores in great flocks in order to migrate; and are eaten; 

 dried |. 



In Europe they inhabit, during fummer, the mofl: naked Lapland' 

 Alps; and defcend, in rigorous feafons, into Swedjen, and fill the 

 roads and fields ; on which account the Dalecarlians call them 

 lllwrn-sfogel, or bad-weather birds. The Uplanders, Hardvarsfogely 

 cxpreffive of the fame.. Tht Laplanders i^.y\Q ihem- Alaipg. Olaus- 

 Magnus (^t3ks of them under the name o{ JvicuU nivales ^, but 

 mixes much fable in his narrative : he perches them alfo on trees ^ 

 •whereas they always fit upon the ground. 



Leems 1| remarks, I know not with what fbundation, that they 

 fatten on the flowing of the tides, in Finmarky and grow lean on the 

 ebb. The Laplanders take thenh in great nurhbers in hair fpringesj, 

 for the tables, their flefli being very delicate. 



They feem to make the countries within the whole /rr^/f circle- 



* LofJ Mulgrave's Foy. \%?i.— Marten's Voy. 73. -J- Leems, 256., 



% Faun, Gmnl, ii8. % D$ Gtnt, Septentr, lib, xix.p. 156, \\,Finmark, 255.. 



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