I 
SNOW BUNTING. WHITE SNOW BIRD. 
PlECTROPHENAX NIVALIS. 
Char. In summer, prevailing color white ; middle of back, wings, and 
tail mixed with black. In autumn the dark color is extended, the black 
being broadly margined with tawny brown, which gradually becomes white 
as winter advances. Length about 6^ inches. 
On a barren hillside, under shelter of a rock or in a stone heap, 
sometimes in cavity of a sand-bank ; compactly built of dry grass, plant 
stems, and moss, lined with feathers and hair. 
4-6 ; dull white, with faint tint of blue or green, spotted, chiefly 
around larger end, with reddish brown and lavender ; o.go X 0.65. 
This messenger of cold and stormy weather chiefly in- 
habits the higher regions of the Arctic circle, whence, as the 
severity of the winter threatens, they migrate indifferently over 
Europe, eastern Asia, and the United States. On their way to 
the South they appear round Hudson Bay in September, and 
stay till the frosts of November again oblige them to seek out 
warmer quarters. Early in December they make their descent 
