SNOW BUNTING. 



343 



never having been found at New York : it is like- 

 wise excessively rare in the south of England, but 

 in Yorkshire and Northumberland it is frequently 

 met with. Phipps, in his Voyage to the North, men- 

 tions having seen immense numbers on the ice 

 near the shores of Spitzbergen. 



The nest of this bird is said to be placed in the 

 fissures of the mountain rocks, and to be composed 

 of grass, with a layer of feathers inside, and another 

 of the down of the Arctic Fox within that : the 

 female lays five reddish-white eggs, spotted with 

 brown : on its first arrival in this country it is very 

 lean, but quickly grows very fat, when it becomes 

 excellent eating : it sings very sweetly, sitting on 

 the ground ; and does not perch, but runs about 

 like the Lark, which it very much resembles at 

 first sight. The farther north it is found the whiter 

 the plumage is supposed to be, as some specimens 

 from Hudson's Bay, where it is called Wapathecu- 

 sish, have a great deal more white about them 

 than the generality of those taken in Scotland. 



