148 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
SNOW BUNTING. 
SNOWFLAKE. 
[Emberiza Nivalis , Lin . — UOrtolan de Neige> Buff.) 
Length near feven inches : Bill and eyes black; 
in winter the head, neck, coverts of the wings, 
rump, and all the under parts of the body are as 
white as fnow, with a light tint of rufty colour on 
the hind part of the head ; the back is black ; the 
baftard wings and ends of the greater coverts white; 
the prime quills are black, fecondaries white, with 
a black fpot on their inner webs ; middle feathers 
of the tail black, the three outer ones white, with 
a dulky fpot near the ends ; legs black. Its fum- 
mer drefs is different, the head, neck, and under 
parts of the body being marked with tranfverfe 
waves of a rufty colour, of various ftrength, but 
never fo deep as in the female, of which it is the 
predominant colour ; the white likewife upon the 
under parts of her body is lefs pure than that of the 
male. 
The hoary mountains of Spitzbergen, the Lap- 
land Alps, the fhores of Hudfon’s Bay, and per- 
haps countries ftill more northerly, are, during the 
fummer months, the favorite abodes of this hardy 
bird. The exceflive feverity of thefe inhofpitable 
regions changes parts of its plumage into white in 
winter ; and there is reafon to believe that the fur- 
ther northward they are found, the whiter the plu- 
