pie was caught on the downs near Brighton, in or prior to
1827, and kept caged for some months, when it came into
my own collection (Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. p. 156). The
third was also taken alive in September, 1828, a few miles
north of London, and its capture made known by Mr. Gould
(Zool. Journ. v. p. 104). The fourth, caught near Preston
in Lancashire, in October, 1838, was selected from a variety
of other small birds in the Manchester market, and is now
preserved in the museum of that city. The fifth is recorded
(Zool. p. 316) as having been obtained in the summer of
1843 near Milnthorpe in Westmoreland. Each of these
examples exhibited the plumage of the less conspicuous
bird in the woodcut here given. On September 30th, 1844,
an adult male was netted with some Larks on the downs near
Brighton; and this specimen, which I have seen in the possession
of Mr. Borrer, is in the plumage of summer as
represented in the lower figure, but undergoing a slight
change from the advance of the season.
Since this date the occurrence in England ,of more than a
dozen examples has been put on record. Most of them
were caught alive, and kept for a longer or shorter time in
captivity. Three of them are said to have been taken near
Brighton, three not far from London, four in Norfolk, two
in the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, one near Southport in
Lancashire, and one near Durham. In most cases the birds
were associating with Larks, and no mention is made of any
one of them being accompanied by others of its own species.
The Lapland Bunting is stated to have been found twice in
Caithness, the only instances of its being observed in Scotland
; but its appearance in Ireland has not been recorded.
The home of this species is neither so far to the northward
nor in such alpine heights as that of the preceding.
It never verges on the line of perpetual snow nor inhabits
the stony wastes so much affected by the Snow-Bunting,
but prefers the upland swamps where there is a thick
growth of low willows and other plants characteristic of such
spots, especially if there be also an abundance of long
grass. These places are in Lapland equally the resort of
the Bluethroat, the northern form of Yellow Wagtail, the
Red-throated Pipit and the Titlark; but this Bunting will
also frequent higher levels than any of those birds, the last
only excepted, and may be found in colonies where the
cloudberry and the dwarf birch form the prevailing vegetation.
Arriving from the south at such bogs, so soon as
the surface-soil is thawed, the cock-birds are fond of displaying
their gay plumage to the best advantage on any elevated
perch, and rising in the air deliver, while hovering on the
wing and then gently gliding to another station, a song that
though not marked by any brilliant notes has a tone of
sweetness; yet the gesture by which it is accompanied
supplies its principal attraction. When not singing they
mostly occupy themselves in chasing or being chased by one
another, or, sitting on the most prominent position available—
and it must be said that any prominent position on a
bog of this kind is comparatively humble—from time to
time utter a rather harsh though plaintive note. The preliminaries
to the breeding-season being ended, this species
is usually seen in pairs, but the several pairs do not evince
that dislike of their neighbours’ society which is so characteristic
of the Snow-Bunting, and thus the same suitable
moss or portion of a moss, often of very limited area, will
accommodate a dozen or more pairs which, the exciting
period just mentioned being past, soon enter peaceably
upon the work of nest-building. For this purpose the
shelter of a thick tussock of grass, the base of a ligneous
shrub or any inequality the ground itself may present is
chosen, and the foundation is laid with the usual rough
materials. Within this a cup-shaped nest is formed,
chiefly of the stems of dry grass, and then a bedding of
soft feathers is superimposed. This lining, according to
the Editor’s experience, invariably* distinguishes the nest
* Richardson, however, writing of this bird in Arctic America, says that the
“ nest is lined very neatly and compactly with deer’s hair.” He was an observer
so scrupulously accurate that one can hardly doubt his word, yet it is to be
remarked that it seems just possible for him to have mistaken the nest of one of
the allied North-American species (Plectrophanes pictus, which is said not to
use feathers, for example) for that of the Lapland Bunting. Nests of this last
VOL. I I. D