136 HAxNDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
to haunt. It is solidly but rather untidily built of 
dry reeds, moss, mixed stems, downy reed-plumes, 
and such similar materials, and is chiefly lined with 
horse-hair, the reed-plumes and various fine vege- 
table fibres being also used. The four or five 
eggs have the characteristic scribbled appearance 
of all their tribe, but are easily distinguished by 
their ground-colour, which is a clear drab-brown, 
sometimes inclining to a reddish or greenish tinge, 
and much resembling the ground colour of the 
Chaffinch's egg. The scribblings of dark and 
medium brown are often very intricate and beautiful, 
even more so than those on the eggs of the 
Yellow Hammer. This is one of the birds which 
often pretend to be hurt or lamed in order to dis- 
tract attention from the nest or young. 
SNOW BUNTING. 
{Vlectrophenax nivalis.^ 
Snow-flake, Mountain Bunting, Tawny Bunting. 
— The Snow Bunting is not a very familiar British 
species, chiefly occurring in winter flocks in those 
northern and eastern districts of the country which 
are the natural resort of birds which reach our 
shores, as the great majority of the Snow Buntings 
do, from the most northern parts of Scandinavia 
