SNOW BUNTING. 
85 
bad-weather birds. The Uplanders hardirfarsfogel, expressive of tbe 
same. The Laplanders style them Alaipg. Leems* remarks, I know 
not with what foundation, that they fatten on the flowing of the tides in 
Finmark ; and grow lean on the ebb. The Laplanders take them in great 
numbers in hair-springs for the tables, their flesh being very delicate. 
" They seem to make the countries within the whole Arctic circle 
their summer residence, from whence they overflow the more southern 
countries in amazing multitudes, at the setting in of winter in the 
frigid zone. In the winter of 1778-9, they came in such multitudes 
into Sirsa, one of the Orkney islands, as to cover the whole barony ; 
yet of all the numbers hardly two agreed in colors. 
" Lapland, and perhaps Iceland, furnishes the north of Briton with 
the swarms that frequent these parts during winter, as low as the Che- 
viot Hills, in lat. 52° 32'. Their resting places the Feroe isles, Schet- 
land and the Orkneys. The highlands of Scotland, in particular, 
abound with them. Their flights are immense, and they mingle so 
closely together in form of a ball that the fowlers make great havoc 
among them. They arrive lean, soon become very fat, and are deli- 
cious 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, f 
" In their summer dress they are sometimes seen in the south of 
England \\ the climate not having severity suflicient to affect the co- 
lors ; yet now and then a milk white one appears, which is usually mis- 
taken for a Avhite Lark. 
" Russia and Siberia receive them in their severe seasons annually, 
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. § 
This seems to be the influence of difference 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, particularly if drifted 
by high winds. They are usually called the White Snow-bird, to dis- 
tinguish 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 
* Finmark, 255. 
f Bishop Pocock's Journal, MS. 
% Morton's Northainp. p. 427. 
I Bell's Travel's, 1, 198. 
|| Kramer, Anim. Austr. 372. 
