40 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



Varieties- — The only one I have seen which can be classed as a 

 variety is in Mr. Bond's collection. It is dull white, tinged with brown only 

 at the sides of the head and breast. 



Note. — The song of the Snow Bunting is described as being exceedingly 

 lively and pretty. Mr. Seebohm in his Siberia in Europe says " They would 

 fling themselves up into the air almost like a shuttlecock, singing all the 

 time a low warble, not unlike that of a Shore Lark, or perhaps still more like 

 that of the Lapland Bunting, and they would immediately descend in a spiral 

 curve, with wings and tail expanded, and finish their song on a rock." A 

 writer in Science Gossip (May 1870) describes the song of one that he kept 

 in confinement, as being very like that of the Hedge Sparrow. The bird 

 suug only during the night. 



Flight.— They fly very close in flocks. Dr. Saxby says "Their flight is 

 always in a compact body ; and frequently before settling on the ground, they 

 make sudden whirls, coming almost in collision with each other, at which 

 time a peculiar note is produced. * * * Seen against a dark hill side 

 or a lowering sky, a flock of these birds presents an exceedingly beautiful 

 appearance, and it may there be seen how aptly the term 'Snow-flake' has 

 been applied to the species. I am acquainted with no more pleasing com- 

 bination of sight and sound than that afforded when a cloud of these birds, 

 backed by a dark grey sky, descends as it were in a new shower to the 

 ground, to the music of their own sweet tinkling notes.'" 



Migration.— The bird is principally a winter visitor to these islands, 

 arriving on the east coast about the end of October, or early in November, 

 but individuals may be seen earlier. The first arrivals consist mainly of 

 young birds and a few females. Their numbers seem greatly affected by the 

 season ; great numbers arriving in severe winters, while in mild winters very 

 few are to be seen. Some remain here to breed. 



Food* — Their principal food during their winter stay with us, is seeds of 

 grass and other plants, especially those of Schoberia maritima and Glaux 

 maritima upon their first arrival. 



In Confinement, canary, rape, hemp, millet and other seeds might be 

 given, but the Snow Bunting is not a long lived bird in confinement, though 

 they have been known to breed in captivity. Mr. Gregsen, of Liverpool, has 

 had thirty of them at once in his aviary, caught upon his Warren at Crosby. 



Habitat. — This species frequents hilly districts, being found in winter on 

 the coast and hills, and in summer on the mountain tops. As before stated, 



