SPECIES 5. EMBERIZ^ NIVALIS. 
SNOW BUNTING. 
[Plate XXI. — Fig. 2.] 
Linn. Syst. 308. — Arct. Zool. p. 355. JSTo. 222. — Tawny Bunting, 
Br. Zool. No. 121. — EOrtolan de JVeige, Buffon, iv, 329. PL 
Enl. 497. — Peale’s Museum, No. 5900. 
This being one of those birds common to both continents, 
its migrations extending almost from the very pole, to a distance 
of forty or fifty degrees around ; and its manners and peculiarites 
having been long familiarly known to the naturalists of Europe, 
I shall in this place avail myself of the most interesting parts 
of their accounts; subjoining such particulars as have fallen un- 
der my own observation. 
“ These birds,” says Mr. Pennant, “ inhabit not only Green- 
“ land* but even the dreadful climate of Spitzbergen, where ve- 
‘ ‘ getation is nearly extinct, and scarcely any but cryptogamious 
“plants are found. It therefore excites wonder, how birds, 
“ which are graminivorous in every other than those frost- 
-bound regions, subsist: yet are there found in great flocks both 
“ on the land and ice of Spitzbergen. t They annually pass to this 
“ country by way of Norway; for in the spring, flocks innumer- 
“ able appear, especially on the Norwegian isles; continue only 
“three weeks, and then at once disappear. J As they do not 
“ breed in Hudson’s bay it is certain that many retreat to this 
“ last of lands, and totally uninhabited, to perform in full secu- 
“rity the duties of love, incubation, and nutrition. That they 
“ breed in Spitzbergen is very probable; but we are assured that 
“ they do so in Greenland. They arrive there in April, and 
* Ckantz, I, 77. t Lord Mtri.ei.AVE’s Voyage, 188. Martin’s Voyage, 73. 
JLeems, 256. 
