438 HISTORY OF THE 



A set of four eggs, collected June 13tb, 1871, near James- 

 town, Dakota, from a nest on the ground, made wholly of dried 

 grasses, measure: .70x.53, .70x.53, .71x.56, .72x.56; grayish 

 white, obscurely mottled with pale purple, and overlaid with 

 spots and splashes of dark reddish brown; in form, ovate. 



Genus RHYNCHOPHANES Baibd. 



Bill stout, conical, the gonys larger than the hiud toe, with its angle consid- 

 erably posterior to the middle of the bill; maxilla equal to the mandible in depth; 

 mandibular tomium forming a decided angle at the base. Middle toe with claw 

 shorter than tarsus, the claw reaching beyond that of the hallux. Tail decidedly 

 shorter than the distance from the carpal joint of the wing to the tips of the 

 tertials. {Bidgway.) 



Rhynchophanes mccownii (Lawr.). 



McCOWN'S LONGSPUR. 

 PLATE XXVII. 



A winter sojourner; common in the western to middle of the 

 State; occasionally straggling into the eastern portion. Begin 

 to leave in March (a few occasionally linger until the first of 

 May); return in October. 



B. 330. R. 190. C. 223. G. 95, 214. U. 539. 



Habitat. The Great Plains; north to the Saskatchewan re- 

 gions; south in winter through Kansas, eastern Colorado, western 

 Texas, New Mexico and Arizona into Mexico; breed from Wy- 

 oming and Dakota northward. They have been reported as 

 breeding from northern Kansas northward, and probably do so, 

 but upon inquiry I fail to find any positive proof of the same. 



Sp. Char. Tail feathers (except middle pair) white, broadly tipped with 

 black (outer feathers almost entirely white). Adult male, in summer: Middle 

 and posterior lesser wing coverts rufous; crown, rictal stripe and cresceutic 

 patch on chest black; sides of head grayish; back, etc., gray or brownish, 

 streaked with dusky; lower parts (except chest) white, tinged laterally with 

 grayish. Adult male, in winter: Crown and other upper parts dull brownish 

 buff, streaked with dusky; black rictal streak obsolete, and black patch on chest 

 hidden by light dull buffy tips to feathers. Adult female: Similar to winter 

 male, but without concealed black on chest or rufous on wing coverts; the colors 

 brownish above and dull buffy beneath in winter, grayer above and whiter be- 

 neath in summer. Young: Upper parts dusky, the feathers broadly bordered 

 with pale grayish buff; beneath white, distinctly washed with buff across chest, 

 where sometimes indistinctly streaked. {Ridgicuy.) 



