268 



8 



Bohemian Waxwings themselves. It is ' hail fellow well met ' with the whole of this jolly 

 arctic crew, and the world may wag as it will. 



" The roving disposition that never lets the Buntings rest, except for the short time that they 

 overcome it when busy thinking of the coming generation, stands somewhat in the way of our 

 finding out exactly how far the birds press south in winter. Or, rather, these Bohemians make 

 us hesitate to declare how far they may not go ; for the first cold snap or severe snow-storm may 

 upset our most careful estimates, and turn the laugh against what we have written in soberest 

 mood. On one occasion (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1868, p. 114) when looking up the birds of 

 South Carolina, I judged it prudent to make a memorandum that I am still satisfied with. 

 ' We have no record,' I said, ' of the occurrence of either Snow-Buntings, Crossbills, or Redpolls 

 so far south ; but they may possibly occasionally stray to the Carolinas in severe winters, as even 

 the Snowy Owl is known to do.' But, to have done with surmise, and turn to the records, the 

 southernmost quotation that I know of for the Atlantic States, and probably for the whole 

 Union, is that given by Coues and Prentiss (Smithsonian Report, 1861, p. 411), who say it is 'a 

 rare visitant in the depth of winter ' at "Washington, D. O* Across the continent, in corre- 

 sponding latitudes on the Pacific slope, we find it as one of the Californian species that is to be 

 (Cooper, Orn. Cal. i. p. 171). The bird is unnoticed as a species of our western territories in 

 the Pacific-Railroad Reports, not having been found even in Washington and Oregon ; perhaps 

 it has simply been overlooked ; but perhaps, like some others that could be named, it comes 

 south more particularly in the eastern parts of our country. Certain it is, that our winter 

 advices, which it is unnecessary to quote in detail, are pretty full for the Atlantic and interior 

 States down to (let us say) about 40° N. ; so that the bird may be held to occur generally, or not 

 unfrequently (but not regularly), over about half of the United States east of the Mississippi and 

 Missouri. Moving a little above the limit of its migration, and particularly on entering New 

 England, we happen upon the bird regularly in winter; and along our northern frontier the 

 usual expression in the record is ' common.' 



"The Snow-Bunting is known to enter the United States as early as September (Calais, Me., 

 Boardman, Pr. B. S. N. H. ix. 1862, p. 126), and to remain until April or May (Putman, Proc. 

 Essex Inst. i. p. 210) in some cases, at least as far south as Massachusetts. But these dates, 

 you will see at once, are the extremes of its visits, and probably they would only hold true 

 towards our northern frontier. For localities south of New England I could only give you 

 winter advices. For us the name of this Bunting is a suggestive one ; the bird is associated 

 with snow as intimately almost as it is with its own cousins the Lapland Longspurs, or its 

 friend the Eremophila cornuta. It is as truly gregarious a Bunting as any we have, delighting 

 in the society of its kind, and doubtless proving as pleasant company for the two birds just men- 

 tioned, and for the rosy little jEgiothi, as they could deserve. As you would expect, it is very 

 rarely, if ever, seen in its full dress in the United States. I never saw or heard of any in the 



* "But I should not omit, in this connexion, the very remarkable occurrence of the Snow-Bunting in 

 Bermuda, about lat. 32° N. [Bland, in Smithsonian Report for 1858). This is, I believe, the southernmost 

 American record, and is as noteworthy as the finding of the Snowy Owl {Bland, 1. c.) and the Hawk-Owl 

 (Jardine) in the same island. It is also singular that Bermuda has given us two European birds never yet 

 found in North America, viz. Alauda arvensis and Gallinago media." 



