458 
GRANIVGROUS BIRDS. 
SNOW-BUNTING. 
( Emberiza nivalis , Lin. Wilson, iii. p. 86. pi. 21. fig. 2. [female in 
winter dress]. Phil. Museum, No. 5900.) 
Sp. Charact. — Quills white on the lower part, black upwards; tail 
black, the 3 lateral feathers white, tipt with blackish ; hind nail 
rather short and curved. — Male in full dress, with the head, 
neck, and beneath white. --In the female , young , and male in 
winter dress, the white parts are tinged with rufous. 
This messenger of cold and stormy weather chiefly 
inhabits the higher regions of the arctic circle, from 
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’s 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 into the Northern States in whirling roving 
flocks, either immediately before, or soon after, an inun- 
dating fall of snow. Amidst the drifts, and as they ac- 
cumulate with the blast, flocks of these illwars fogel, or 
bad-weather birds of the Swedes, like the spirits of the 
storm, are to be seen flitting about in restless and hungry 
troops, at times resting on the wooden fences, though 
but for an instant, as, like the congenial Tartar hordes 
of their natal regions, they appear now to have no other 
object in view, but an escape from famine, and to carry 
on a general system of forage while they happen to stay 
in the vicinity. At times, pressed by hunger, they alight 
near the door of the cottage, and approach the barn, or 
even venture into the out-houses in quest of dormant 
insects, seeds, or crumbs wherewith to allay their hun- 
ger ; they are still, however, generally plump and fat, 
and in some countries much esteemed for the table. In 
fine weather they appear less restless, somewhat more 
