McCown's Longspur 353 



Habits. — Allen found the Chestnut-collared Longspur 

 one of the most interesting and characteristic birds 

 of the plains in central Kansas ; it has a short, 

 shrill, but very sweet song, often uttered while on the 

 wing. The nest is a neat though shght structure, placed 

 on the ground and composed of dry grass and rootlets. 

 The eggs, generally five, are blotched and streaked with 

 rusty on a white ground. Full fresh sets are to be found 

 about June 3rd. 



Genus RHYNCHOPHANES, 



Terrestrial Finches of medium size, closely resembling Calcarius, 

 but with a larger and somewhat stouter and more turgid bill and a 

 shorter tail, averaging about -57 of the length of the wing ; hind claw 

 nearly straight and usually less than the hind toe. Plumage streaky, 

 tail with a transverse terminal black band ; a chestnut shoulder-patch, 

 but no chestnut collar in the male. 



This genus contains only the single species here described. 



McCown's Longspur. Rhyncko'phanes mccowni. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 539 — Colorado Records — Trippe 74, p. 125 ; 

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

 Cooke 97, p. 101 ; Warren 06, p. 22. 



Description. — Male in winter — General colour above streaked dusky 

 and pale buff, darkest on the crown where the black bases of the 

 feathers show through ; wings dusky, edged with buffy or white, the 

 lesser and middle coverts chestnut, forming a wing-patch ; tail-feathers, 

 except the central pair, which are dusky throughout, white ; outer pair 

 very slightly, others more markedly, tipped with dusky ; below dirty- 

 white, the black bases of the feathers showing through more or less ; 

 iris brown, bill brown, dusky at the tip, legs horn. Length 5-55 ; wing 

 3-50 ; tail 2-0 ; tarsus -70 ; culmen -48. 



By abrasion of the feather tips the male in the breeding season has 

 the crown, a rictal streak and a crescent band across the chest black, 

 the nape, rump and edges of the wing-coverts slaty-grey, the under- 

 parts pale grey ; the bill is blackish. The female is like the winter 

 male, but the basal black does not show through, and there is no 

 chestnut shoulder-patch ; a well-marked broad superciliary and rictal 

 stripe of pale buffy contrasts with the darker brown ear-coverts ; 

 below, buffy, whitening on the abdomen and throat. The young bird 

 is like the female, but with the chest broadly streaked with dusky. 



