38 SNOW BUNTING. 



"that the fowlers make great havock among them. They arrive 

 " lean, soon become very fat, and are delicious food. They either 

 "arrive in the highlands very early, or a few breed there, for I 

 "had one shot for me at Invercauld, the fourth of August. But 

 "there is a certainty of their migration; for multitudes of them 

 "fall, wearied with their passage, on the vessels that are sailing 

 "through the Pentland frith.* 



" In their summer dress they are sometimes seen in the south 

 " of England ;t the climate not having severity sufficient to affect 

 " the colors ; yet now and then a milk white one appears, which 

 " is usually mistaken for a w hite Lark. 



" Russia and Siberia receive them in their severe seasons an- 

 " nually, in amazing flocks, overflowing almost all Russia. They 

 " frequent the villages, and yield a most luxurious repast. They vary 

 " there infinitely in their winter colors, are pure white, speckled, 

 " and even quite brown. i This seems to be the influence of dif- 

 " ference of age more than of season. Germany has also its share 

 " of them. In Austria they are caught and fed with millet, and 

 "afford the epicure a treat equal to that of the Ortolan."^ 



These birds appear in the northern districts of the United 

 States early in December, or with the first heavy snow, particu- 

 larly if drifted by high winds. They are usually called the White 

 Snow-bird, to distinguish them from the small dark bluish Snow- 

 bird already described. Their numbers increase with the increasing 

 severity of weather, and depth of snow. Flocks of them sometimes 

 reach as far south as the borders of Maryland ; and the whiteness 

 of their plumage is observed to be greatest towards the depth of 

 winter. They spread over the 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 restless bird. In these 



* Bishop Pocock's Journal, MS. X Bell's Travels, I, 198. 



t Morton's Northamp. p. 427. ^ Kramer, Anim. Austr. 372. 



