THE SNOW BUNTING. 79 



by the assistance of more complete or voluminous 

 works. 



The cold and icy regions of Labrador and Green- 

 land are inhabited by a number of beautiful birds, 

 which are very rarely seen except during their short 

 stay among us in winter, when the severity of the 

 northern climate and the scarcity of food compel 

 them to remove to a warmer latitude. Among these 

 are the Lapland Longspur and the Snow Bunting. 

 They are both quite abundant in the Western States 

 during winter, but the former is seldom met with 

 near the Atlantic coast, confining itself principally 

 to the region of country lying north from Kentucky 

 and west of Pennsylvania. In Nova Scotia and the 

 States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the 

 Snow Buntings make their appearance in large flocks, 

 about the time of the first fall of snow, and spread 

 themselves over great tracts of country in search of 

 grubs, larvae of insects, seeds, and any other sub- 

 stance that will answer the purpose of food ; as the 

 severity of the season advances, they proceed south- 

 ward, occasionally, though rarely, as far as the vicin- 

 ity of Philadelphia. In Summer these birds not only 

 inhabit Labrador, Greenland, and Iceland, but even 

 the piercing climate of Spitzbergen, where the in- 

 tensity of the cold is such that vegetation is nearly 

 extinct. Indeed, they seem to make the whole coun- 

 try within the limits of the Arctic Circle, their home, 

 from whence they spread themselves ir vast numbers 

 southward on both continents, upon the opening of 

 the Arctic winter. 



