55 



SNOW LARK-BUNTING. 



-/-Plectrophanes nivalis, Linn. 



PLATE CLV.— Adult and Young. 



As soon as the cold blasts of winter have stiffened the earth's surface, and 

 brought with them the first snow-clouds, millions of these birds, driven 

 before the pitiless storm, make their way towards milder climes. Their 

 wings seem scarcely able to support their exhausted, nay almost congealed 

 bodies, which seem little larger than the great feathery flakes of the substance 

 from which these delicate creatures have borrowed their name. In com- 

 pressed squadrons they are seen anxiously engaged in attempting to over- 

 come the difficulties which beset them amid their perilous adventures. They 

 now glide low over the earth, relax the closeness of their phalanx, and with 

 amazing swiftness sweep over the country in search of that food, without 

 which they must all shortly perish. Disappointed in their endeavours, the 

 travellers again ascend, close their files, and continue their journey. At last, 

 when nearly exhausted by fatigue and hunger, some leader espies the wished- 

 for land, not yet buried in snow. Joyful notes are heard from the famished 

 voyagers, while with relaxed flight, and wings and tail expanded, they float 

 as it were in broad circles, towards the spot where they are to find relief. 

 They alight, disperse, run nimbly in masses from the foot of one corn stalk 

 to the next, scratch the ground here, pick up a dormant insect there, or 

 nibble the small seeds of the withered grass, mixing them with a portion of 

 gravel. Now two meet, and contend for the scanty morsel; the weaker 

 gives way, for hunger, it seems, acts on birds as on other beings, rendering 

 them selfish and unfeeling. 



The Snow Buntings enter the eastern portions of the Union sometimes 

 early in November, and remain in such parts as suit them best until the 

 month of March. They now and then alight on trees, frequently on fences, 

 and sometimes on the roofs of low buildings, in such compact bodies or 

 continued lines, as to render it easy for the sportsman who may be inclined 

 to shoot them, to procure a great number at once. 



This species, while in the United States, never enters the woods, but 

 prefers either the barreny portions of our elevated table-lands, or the vicinity 

 of the sea, lakes, or rivers, where much loose sand, intermixed with small 

 clumps of bushes and grasses, is to be found. To such places I have thought 



