56 
SNOW LARK-BUNTING. 
that the Snow Buntings endeavour to return each successive winter, unless 
compelled by the weather to proceed still farther south. I have seen them 
on the borders of Lake Erie, and on some of the barrens of Kentucky, for 
several successive seasons in the same neighbourhood. At Louisville I saw 
a flock each winter, on a piece of open ground between that city and the 
village of Shippingport, when their movements seldom extended beyond a 
space half a mile in diameter. It was there that one morning I caught 
several which were covered with hoarfrost, and so benumbed, that they 
were unable to fly. At that season they kept company with the Shore-larks, 
the Lark-finches, and several species of Sparrow. They frequently alighted 
on trees, particularly the sweet gum, of which they eat the seeds. 
The flight of this bird has a considerable resemblance to that of the 
Shore-lark, being rapid, elevated, and greatly protracted. It glides, as it 
were, through the air, in long and easy undulations, repeating a soft whis- 
tling call-note at each of these curves. While on the. ground they run nim- 
bly, and if wounded make off with great celerity, hiding in the grass, where 
it is difficult to find them, as they lie close and silent until danger is over. 
When they first arrive, they are usually gentle and easily approached ; 
but as their flesh is savoury, and their appearance attractive, they are shot 
in immense numbers, so that they soon become shy and wary. During 
moderate weather, they become more careless, appear to stray farther from 
each other, and if by the middle of the day the sun shines out warm, the 
male bird sings a few plaintive but soft and agreeable notes. 
Only a single nest of this bird has been found within the limits of the 
United States. It was seen by Wright Boott, Esq. of Boston, on a 
declivity of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in the month of July 
1831. That gentleman described it to me as being fixed on the ground 
amid low bushes, and formed like that of the Soug Sparrow. It contained 
yotmg ones. 
Whilst with us, these birds are found in all varieties of plumage, except- 
ing the pure white and black, which form their summer dress. I have not 
seen any having these colours, even among those procured late in March, 
when they usually leave the United States. In Labrador and Newfound- 
land, they are known by the name of the “ White-bird.” Their food there 
consists of grass seeds, insects of various kinds, and minute testaceous 
mollusca. They not unfrequently alight on the wild oats growing on the 
borders of lakes and ponds, to feed on its seeds, and with all these sub- 
stances they mix a proportion of fine sand or gravel. 
In winter, from Nova Scotia to Kentucky. Abundant. Much rarer 
along the Atlantic coast. Some breed in Vermont and Massachusetts. 
Fur Countries in summer. 
