226 SNOW-BUNTING. 
in North America, Japan, Northern China, Turkestan, South Russia, | 
the shores of the Mediterranean, Malta, Northern Africa, and 
occasionally to the Azores. It is of annual occurrence as far as the 
central portions of Europe, but its visits south of the Alps are 
exceptional. 
Near the southern extremity of its breeding-range the Snow- 
Bunting builds in the “screes” or stony sides of mountains, but 
in the Feroes, Spitsbergen, and the high north, the nest is often 
but little above sea-level, generally in some crevice behind or under 
rocks and boulders, or among the piles of drift-wood which fringe 
the shores of the Arctic Sea, though sometimes fully exposed. It 
is formed of dry grass and moss, lined with a few hairs and many 
feathers—especially those of the Ptarmigan; the 4-6 eggs are 
greyish-white, spotted and blotched with brownish-red and purplish- 
black: measurements °86 by ‘62 in. While the female is sitting the 
male utters a low and melodious warble, often hovering in the air ; 
the call-note is a long-drawn /see. In summer both young and old 
feed principally on mosquitoes and other insects, but in autumn and 
winter they live on seeds, and do some damage to newly-sown corn. 
On the ground the Snow-Bunting runs with rapidity ; it also hops, 
and has frequently been observed to perch on trees. 
The adult male in breeding-plumage has the mantle, inner 
secondaries, terminal part of primaries, and the six central tail- 
feathers, black; the rest of the plumage mostly white ; bill, legs and 
feet black ; hind claw shorter than its toe. Length 6°65 in. ; wing 
4°4 in. In the female the head and neck are streaked with greyish- 
black, and the upper parts are dull black, except the secondaries, 
which are chiefly white. In autumn the bird (as figured) has the 
feathers of the upper parts broadly edged with pale chestnut, and 
the bill yellow with a black tip: in this state it has been called the 
Tawny Bunting.” In winter the chestnut margins are abraded and 
are succeeded by white. The young bird is greyish-brown, with 
darker spots on both upper and under parts ; a specimen is figured 
in Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Buckley’s ‘Fauna of Sutherland &c.’ 
Males of the introduced American Red-winged Starling, Agedeus 
pheniceus, have been captured in this country; while Jcterus 
baltimore has been recorded from the Shetlands (Zool. 1890, p. 457). 
Attempts have also been made to swell the British list by including 
in it escaped examples of the American Meadow-Starling, Sturnella 
magna ; the American Rusty Grackle, Sco/ecophagus ferrugineus ; and 
the Indian Mynah, Gracula religiosa. 
