352 Birds of Colorado 



Larks in large flocks. Brvinner found lEirge numbers of these birds 

 lying dead by the railroad track between Wray, Colo., and Heigler 

 Neb., November 16th, 1901. They had been killed by flying agauist 

 the telegraph wires. 



Habits. — Like the preceding one, this species breeds 

 far away in the north and comes south in large flocks 

 in October, wandering over the desolate and treeless 

 prairies in immense numbers, and subsisting on grass 

 and weed seeds ; they skim over the ground in a wavy 

 zigzag manner, and as soon as they alight, run swiftly 

 hither and thither in search of their food. They often 

 fall a prey to the Prairie-Falcon and other hawks. 



Chestnut-collared Longspur. Calcarius ornatus. 



A.O.U. Checkhst no 538— Colorado Records — Ridgway 79, p. 228 ; 

 Allen & Brewster 83, p. 161 ; Drew 85, p. 16 ; Morrison 89, p. 36 ; 

 Cooke 97, p. 100 ; Gilman 07, p. 156 ; Henderson 09, p. 236. 



Description. — Male in summer — Crown, stripe behind the eye, spot 

 below the ear-coverts, chest and abdomen black ; lower parts often 

 with a strong rufous wash ; hind-neck deep chestnut-rufous ; super- 

 ciliary stripe, chin and throat white, rest of the back streaked with buffy 

 and du-sky ; tail white, with increasing amounts of dusky at the tips 

 from the outer-feathers inwards ; lesser wing-coverts black, with white 

 tips forming a shoulder-patch. Length 5-5; wing 3-40; tail 2-4; 

 tarsus -75 ; culmen -40. 



In winter the black and chestnut are almost completely obscured by 

 bufiy tips and edges to the feathers. The female is streaked above 

 throughout with dusky and buffy, and is pale greyish-buff below ; 

 tail as in the male, but no black shoulder-patch to the wing. The 

 young bird is at first like the female. 



Distribution. — Breeding throughout the prairie states from Kansas 

 north to Saskatchewan, south in winter to Mexico and Arizona. 



This species appears to be a somewhat rare resident both in winter 

 and summer in eastern Colorado, while during migration it is more 

 plentiful. Winter records are : Fort Collins, Loveland, Boulder, Pueblo 

 and Fort Lyon (Cooke) ; while in summer it has been noted near 

 Colorado Springs (Allen & Brewster) ; at Resells in Elbert co., and 

 Squirrel Creek in eastern El Paso co. (Aiken) ; and at Cortez in the 

 south-western part of the State on April 4th by Warren (Gilman, 07). 

 Though not actually recorded as breeding in the State, there can be 

 little doubt that it does so. 



