the months of December and January tliat it retires to the sontlnvard of the Saskatchewan. It nsiiallv 
reaches that river again about the middle of February ; two months afterwards it attains the sixty-fifth 
parallel of latitude; and in the beginning- of May it is found on the coast of the Polar Sea. At this period 
it feeds upon the buds of the Saxlfraga oppositifoUa, one of the most early of the arctic plants ; during 
the winter its crop is filled with grass-seeds. In the month of October, Wilson found a large flock running 
over a bed of water-plants, and feeding, not only on their seeds, but on the shelly mollusca which adhered 
to the leaves ; and he observes that the long hind claws of these birds alford them much support when 
so engaged. The young are fed with insects.” — Faun. Bor.~Am. vol. ii. p. 246. 
In his ‘ Notes on the Ornithology of Lapland,’ the late Mr. Wheelwright says : — “ Although the Snow- 
Bunting did not appear to remain during the winter, we observed small flocks of it during our whole journey 
up north of Hernosand ; and very soon after we arrived at Quickiock I shot specimens in nearly pure Avlnter 
dress ; they seem to leave the lowlands for the fells early in May. We never found a nest, although the 
bird breeds abundantly among the fells, and we shot old birds in their summer dress as well as young fliers 
in the end of July, and one of the latter as early as the 6th of that month. 1 am not surprised that we did 
not find the nest; for the wildest and most desolate spots on the fells appeared to be their summer home. 
On these fells there are thousands of acres, we might say many miles, covered with nothing but loose shingly 
slate and Ironstone, and boulders of erratic rock, which are most difficult to traverse ; and here we always 
saw the Snow-Bunting during the breeding-season; but when the young could fly they appeared to descend 
lower down on the fells.” 
During the months of September and October the British Islands are visited by numbers of these birds, 
the eastern coast particularly, the great promontory of Norfolk being a favourite place of resort ; hut it is 
less numerous in the southern and western parts of our Islands. That it proceeds still further south is 
evident, Mr. Frederick Du Cane Godman having seen it in the Azores ; it is said that it also visits the 
Canaries. I believe we have no direct evidence that the bird bas ever bred with us ; but we may reasonably 
assume that a few now and then remain for that purpose ; for Macgillivray states, in his ‘ Natural History 
of the Deeside and Braemar,’ that he “ met with this species early in August in the corry and on the summit 
of Lochnagar, on the Glas-mheal, in the western corry of Cairn Toul, on the summit of Ben-na-muic-dhui, 
and in several other localities. Mr. Cumming and Mr. BroAvn inform me that it resides there all summer 
and breeds. In winter it frequents the valleys from Castletown to Ballater in small flocks. According to 
Mr. Stewart it breeds on Ben-Aun.” 
“ Seen against a dark hill-side or lowering sky,” says Mr. Saxby, in the ‘ Zoologist,’ “ a flock of these 
birds presents an exceedingly beautiful appearance, and it may then be seen how aptly the term ‘ Snowflake’ 
has been applied to the species. I am acquainted Avith no more pleasing combination of sight and sound 
than that afforded when a number of these birds, backed by a dark grey sky, drop as it were in a shoAver to 
the ground, to the music of their oAvn sAveet tinkling voices.” 
So much diversity occurs in the colouring of the SnoAv-Bunting during its progress from youth to maturity 
that examples have been described as pertaining to different species, besides Avhich a seasonal change takes 
place Avhich transforms the bird amazingly ; jet-black and snoAA'-Avhite is the characteristic of the breeding-dress 
of the male, while that of the female is browner, with streaks of a darker hue on the head and back, and she 
has much less white on the shoulder; the under surface, hoAA^ever, is Avhite as in the male; the bills of both 
sexes at this season are jet-black. 
The young, as may be seen in the accompanying Plate, are very unlike the adult, being olive-brown above, 
streaked with black, while the belly is taAvny and the white shoulder-marks slightly tinged Avith the same hue. 
The Plate represents a male, a female, and a nest of young, of the natural size, in summer plumage. The 
reduced taAvny-coloured figure represents the dress in which the birds are frequently seen in autumn and 
Avinter. The red-floAvering Lichen is the Cladonia cornucopioides. 
