SNOW BONTING. 215 
Gennesee country, and the interior of the District of Maine, flying in 
close, compact bodies, driving about most in a high wind; sometimes 
alighting near the doors, but seldom sitting long, being a roving, rest- 
less bird. In these plentiful regions, where more valuable game is 
abundant, they hold out no temptation to the sportsman or hunter; and, 
except the few caught by boys in snares, no other attention is paid to 
them. They are, however, universally considered as the harbingers 
of severe cold weather. How far westward they extendI am unable to 
say. One of the most intelligent and expert hunters who accompamed 
Captains Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Pacific Ocean, 
informs me that he has no recollection of seeing these birds in any 
part of their tour, not even among the bleak and snowy regions of the 
Stony Mountains; though the little blue one was in abundance. 
The Snow Bunting derives a considerable part of its food from the 
seeds of certain aquatic plants, which may be one reason for its pre- 
ferring these remote northern countries, so generally intersected with 
streams, ponds, lakes, and shallow arms of the sea, that probably 
abound with such plants. In passing down the Seneca River towards 
Lake Ontario, late in the month of October, I was surprised by the 
appearance of a large flock of these birds feeding on the surface of 
the water, supported on the tops of a growth of weeds that rose from 
the bottom, growing so close together that our boat could with great 
difficulty make its way through them. They were running about with 
great activity; and those I shot and examined, were filled, not only 
with the seeds of this plant, but with a minute kind of shell fish that 
adheres to the leaves. In these kind of aquatic excursions they are 
doubtless greatly assisted by the length of their hind heel and. claws. 
I also observed a few on Table Rock, above the Falls of Niagara, 
seemingly in search of the same kind of food. = 
According to the statements of those traders who have resided near 
Hudson’s Bay, the Snow Buntings are the earliest of their migratory 
birds, appearing there about the 11th of April, staying about a month 
or five weeks, and proceeding farther north to breed. They return 
again in September, stay till November, when the severe frosts drive 
them southward.* : , ‘ 
The, summer dress of the Snow Bunting is a tawny brown, inter- 
spersed with white, covering the head, neck, and lower parts; the 
back is black, each feather being skirted with brown; wings and tail, 
also black, marked in the following manner: — The three secondaries 
next the body are bordered with bay, the next with white, and all the 
rest of the secondaries, as well as their coverts, and shoulder of the 
wing, pure white; the first six primaries are black from their coverts 
downwards to their extremities; tail, forked, the tnree exterior feathers 
on each side white, marked on the outer edge near the tip with black, 
the rest nearly all black; tail-coverts, reddish brown, fading into white ; 
bill, pale brown ; legs and feet, black; hind claw, long, like that of the 
lark, though more curved. In winter, they become white on the head, 
neck, and whole under-side, as well as great part of the wings and 
rump ; the back continues black, skirted with brown. Some are even 
found pure white. Indeed, so much does their plumage vary according 
to age and season, that no two are found at any time alike. , 
* London Philosophical Transactions, Ixii. 403. 
