THE LAPLAND BUNTING. 125 
feeders, and ran about very actively wherever there was any bare ground; but 
before the snow had entirely disappeared the Lapland Buntings had also taken 
their departure, and we did not meet with them again until we had passed the 
limit of forest growth. On migration they repeatedly perched in trees, and when 
disturbed generally sought refuge in a tree. Like the Shore-Lark and the Snow- 
Bunting, the Lapland Bunting occasionally hops; its flight is quick and powerful, 
but more undulating than that of the Snow-Bunting. In its song the Lapland 
Bunting reminds one both of the Snow-Bunting and the Tree-Pipit. The notes 
are not very loud, but are musical, and are continued for some time; and every 
now and then a curious note is introduced which sounds like cheng, the consonants, 
both at the beginning and the end, being pronounced gutturally, as in German. 
This note is also frequently repeated alone, and is probably the note of endearment 
between the sexes.* The song is generally heard when the bird is flying in the 
air, soaring like a Lark, and is continued until the bird alights on some grassy 
knoll or stunted bush, descending with outspread wings and tail. What I take 
to be the alarm-note of this bird is a plaintive but loud chee-up, often heard near 
its nest. The female has a song almost as rich as that of the male. The Lapland 
Bunting is not such a coast-bird as the Snow-Bunting, and seeks the swampiest 
ground it can find so long as there are dry tussocks of grass full of flowers where 
it can breed; if there are also a few stunted willows or birches upon which it can 
perch, so much the better. The nest is almost always placed in some hole in the 
side of one of the little mounds or tussocks which abound on the marshy parts of 
the tundra ; it is composed of dry grass and roots, and profusely lined with feathers. 
The eggs of the Lapland Bunting are from four to six in number, and differ very 
much both in size and colour. They vary in ground-colour from pale grey to pale 
brown, more or less obscured by a profusion of underlying blotches and streaks, 
which vary in colour from yellowish-brown to reddish-brown; the overlying 
markings are generally much fewer, and are principally streaks mixed with a few 
blotches and spots of dark reddish-brown.” (Hist. British Birds, Vol. II, pp. 132, 
133): 
Herr Gitke states that this species, in its character, ‘“‘is altogether unlike the 
Snow Bunting, having nothing of the boisterousness and wildness of that species, 
but being of a gentle and quiet disposition. Indeed, I have frequently for years 
kept it confined in a cage, and its melodious, if somewhat melancholy, tune has 
given me much enjoyment during many a summer night spent at my desk over 
these pages. The song of the Snow-Bunting has exactly the same character; but 
* If, however, as is now generally believed the songs of birds are sung in rivalry, this note would probably 
represent the chink of the Chaffinch, or the zshweeo of the Greenfinch, and would be a note of defiance.—A.G.B. 
