SNOW-BUNTING. 129 



The nest was built in a heap of stones and rocks, and we had to xemove 

 a considerable quantity before we could see it. This seems to be their 

 favourite site ; but on the Yenesay, where there were no rocks^ the nests 

 were built amongst the piles of drift-wood near the shore. The nest is a 

 bulky structure and adapted to the cavity in which it is placed, and is com- 

 posed of dry grass, with occasionally a few roots or a little moss or even 

 twigs of the dwarf birch and other alpine shrubs if the cavity is large ; 

 the lining consists of feathers, hair, or down. 



The eggs of the Snow-Bunting are from five to eight in number ; six or 

 seven is a usual clutch. They vary from yellowish white to pale bluish 

 green in ground-colour^ spotted and blotched with rich reddish brown and 

 sometimes finely streaked with deep blackish brown; these rich surface- 

 markings are intermingled with numerous and large underlying blotches 

 and spots of pale reddish brown and pinkish grey. On some specimens 

 most of the markings are underlying ones, and the surface-spots are very 

 deep in colour. The spots are generally most numerous at the larger end 

 of the egg, sometimes forming an irregular zone or often a semi-confluent 

 mass. They vary from 1"05 to '82 inch in length, and from "67 to "6 inch 

 in breadth. The eggs of the Snow-Bunting differ considerably in size 

 and colour ; they are^ on an average, larger than those of the Lapland 

 Bunting, and are readily distinguished from them by their much paler 

 ground-colour. Certain eggs of the present species more closely resemble 

 some varieties of those of the Corn-Bunting; but they are never so heavily 

 and richly marked, never so streaked, and the spots are always paler and 

 redder. 



The Snow-Bunting does not generally appear on our eastern coasts until 

 the beginning of October. Mr. Cordeaux has seen it as early as the middle 

 of September; but it very often delays its appearance until the end of 

 October. The date seems to depend entirely on the state of the weather, 

 and its arrival in some districts is regarded as the forerunner of a severe 

 snowstorm. On some parts of the Lincolnshire coast there is a tradition 

 that the early appearance of this bird is a sure sign of a long hard winter. 

 The Snow-Bunting usually remains in this country until the end of March 

 or early in April, ere it sets out on its northern journey. Except during the 

 breeding-season it is a gregarious bird. Soon after their arrival, flocks of 

 these little " Snowflakes " may be seen on the low land near the coast, or 

 on the beach itself, where they nestle very closely amongst the shingle, as if 

 resting themselves after their long and perilous journey. Few sights are 

 more interesting on a lowering day in November, when each moment you 

 expect to see real instead of feathered " snowflakes " coursing through the 

 air, than to watch the actions of a flock of these charming little Arctic 

 strangers ; they seem to bring some" of the romance attaching to the 

 northern regions with them, and have an interest that few other birds 



VOL. II. li 



