SNOW BUNTING. 39 



plentiful regions, where more valuable game is abundant, they hold 

 out no temptation to the sportsman or hunter; and except the few 

 cavight 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 extend I am unable to say. 

 One of the most intelligent and expert hunters who accompanied 

 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; tho 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 

 preferring these remote northern countries, so generally intersect- 

 ed with streams, ponds, lakes and shallow arms of the sea, that pro- 

 bably 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 sur- 

 face 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 run- 

 ning 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 mi- 

 gratory birds, appearing there about the eleventh 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 se- 

 vere frosts drive them southward.^ n 



* Lond. Phil. Trans. LXU, 403. 



