142 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



up and covered with snow, come to the kitchen yard ap- 

 parently begging for food. 



Snowrtake, or Snow Bunting. — Length, six and 

 three-fourths inches; extent, twelve inches; bill, two- 

 fifths of an inch, black; head, white; breast, belly and 

 sides, white; tail and wings, white and black; back, black; 

 rump, white; feet, black. In the female the upper parts 

 are streaked with black and the wings are dark slate. In 

 winter all the feathers of the upper surface, as well as 

 the breast and sides of the head, are edged with rusty 

 brown in both male and female. 



The nest is built on the ground, of grasses, roots and 

 moss, lined with feathers. The eggs are from four to 

 seven in number, of a pale bluish white, with brown 

 spots, and four-fifths by one-third of an inch in size. 



The birds breed in the far north and in the winter mi- 

 grate to the northern United States, occasionally coming 

 south as far as New Jersey, where, however, they are sel- 

 dom seen excepting in severe winters and when there is a 

 great deal of snow. 



Thoreau says that their song is a "soft, rippling note." 



The food of these birds consists of the seeds of plants, 

 especially of aquatic plants, and of minute shellfish ad- 

 hering to the leaves. 



Sora, or Carolina Bail. — Length, nine inches; ex- 

 tent, fourteen inches. The bill is four-fifths of an inch 

 in length, yellow, blackish at the point; the front, crown, 

 chin and stripe down the throat, black; line over the eye, 

 cheeks and breast, light ash ; sides of the crown, neck and 

 upper parts generally olive brown, streaked with black, 

 and also with lines of pure white, the feathers being 

 centered with black and edged with white; these touches 

 of white ai'e shorter near the shoulder of the wing, length- 

 ening as they descend; wings, plain olive brown, with a 

 few of the upper feathers streaked with black and long 

 lines of white; tail, pointed, dusky olive brown, centered 



