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localities." "VVolley mentions that it "breeds very scantily near the tops of the mountains, but 

 in the northernmost islands of the group, on the lower grounds, and in small colonies. A neatly 

 made nest, placed under a large stone, had young almost fully fledged at the beginning of July." 

 Miiller has noticed the young ones flying in August. I visited the mountain, Losingafiald, near 

 Westmanshavn, where Wolley found the nest and young in 1849 ; and though I searched care- 

 fully for hours, I was not fortunate enough even to cross a bird. During my stay in Fseroe the 

 weather was as a rule so bad that the tops of the hills and likely resorts of the Snow-Bunting 

 were generally shrouded in mist. Only on the top of the island of Skuoe did we come across 

 them. On the 7th of June, 1872, about 8 o'clock in the evening, as we were resting, my friend 

 called my attention to the note of a bird which we did not recognize : the song was simple, but 

 plaintive. We soon found that it came from a male Snow-Bunting, which I shot; the female 

 was not far off, and soon made her appearance on the stones, where she twittered for her mate : 

 she was probably nesting close by. We commenced a search for the nest, but almost immedi- 

 ately dense volumes of mist stole up the sides of the mountain and enveloped us. We had to 

 give up the search, and follow our guide in Indian file to the sea-shore. Two or three pairs of 

 Snow-Buntings nest yearly on Kirkeboe Rein, near Thorshavn ; I made one or two attempts to 

 find their nests about the middle of June ; but the rain and mist in every instance prevented 

 me. 



It is common in Northern Scandinavia ; and Mr. R. Collett writes to me that " this Arctic bird 

 is found breeding throughout Norway, on the snow-clad mountain-ranges, in the interior, to the 

 frontiers of Russia, and on the islands of the western coast. It is especially numerous within 

 the Polar circle; but it breeds in considerable numbers on the southern ranges, such as the 

 Dovre, Filefjeld, Ronderne, Jotunfjeldene, Langfjeldene, and as far south as the Thelemark and 

 Nordfjeld, in latitude 60°. 



"When travelling in summer over the upper slopes of the Norwegian mountains, where 

 only here and there a few lichens and stunted blades of grass crop up from amidst the stones and 

 snow, and where, with the exception of a few Rock-Ptarmigan (Lagopus alpina), no other species 

 of birds is to be seen, this pretty Bunting is always to be found, living close to the borders of the 

 eternal snow. Perched on a weather-worn rock it utters its single but melodious note ; but when 

 it has young ones to provide for, it is usually busily engaged in catching flies and small insects 

 for their support. 



" In Finmark, where the greater portion of the country consists of sterile mountain plateaux, 

 the true home of the Snow-Bunting is to be found ; but even in the vicinity of the Polar Sea I 

 have discovered it breeding on small holms and islands. Throughout all these solitary and 

 deserted regions the Snow-Bunting gives a character to the scenery, in as complete accord with 

 the surroundings of nature as the most highly coloured birds in tropical zones; clad in its 

 summer garb of coal-black and pure white, it is a marked object when flitting over the snow- 

 fields or dark moorlands, against which it forms a striking contrast. 



" The nest, containing five or six eggs, is placed amongst stones, or in a cleft of the rock. I 

 found a nest in July 1872 on a little holm close to the North Cape. The male bird appeared to 

 feed the young ones with even greater eagerness than his mate, and showed considerable anxiety 

 as long as I remained in the neighbourhood of the nest. The young ones appeared to be fed 



