OUR HOME BIRDS. 
291 
They fly before the summer comes 
To frolic with us here. 
Give them a hearty welcome ; 
It surely were not good 
That they who sing in winter-time 
Should ever lack for food.’ ” 
“We’ll give them as much as ever they can eat 
here/’ said the children in great delight with these 
verses. “ May we feed them every day when the 
snow comes, Miss Harson?” 
Their kind governess promised that they should, 
and she continued : “ The nests of these little birds 
are made in colder regions than ours, and they are 
said to be placed quite carelessly on the ground or 
among the grass, several of them being sometimes 
found quite near together. 
“ The snow-bunting is often called the white snow- 
bird, to distinguish it from the other, and the colder 
the weather the whiter its plumage becomes.” 
“ But this one in the picture,” said Malcolm, “ has 
a black and a brown back.” 
“ Yes,” was the reply, “ but his head and breast are 
snow T y white, which makes a very pretty contrast; It 
is sometimes called ‘ snowflake/ because of the pure 
whiteness of its head and breast and the greater part 
of the wings ; and some of these birds are said to be 
