Jan., 1909. Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 581 



246. Calcarius pictus (Swains.). 

 Smith's Longspur. 



Distr.: Interior of North America; south in winter to IlHnois and 

 Texas; breeds from the latitude of the Great Slave Lake northward 

 to the Arctic Ocean. 



Adult male in fall and winter : Hind toe nail, long; two outer tail 

 feathers, largely white; under parts, entirely tawny buff, showing more 



or less small, dusky spots on the breast; upper 

 plumage, including crown, streaked with black 

 and grayish buff; nape with faint indications 

 of a tawny buff collar; most of wing coverts, 

 edged with pale brown and tipped with whit- 

 ish; sides of head, with more or less dusky; 

 feet, pale. 



In summer plumage the male has the 

 crowm and sides of the head black. 



Adult female in fall and winter: General 

 resemblance to the male in winter, but slightly paler. 

 Length, 6.50; wing, 3.70; tail, 2.60; bill, .38. 



Smith's Longspur is an irregular but, at times, a not uncommon 

 migrant in spring and fall in Illinois and probably in southern Wis- 

 consin, frequenting the open plains. 



Nelson states he observed a flock of some seventy-five individuals 

 near Lake Calumet. Mr. Frank M. Woodruff found it abundant, 

 May 5, 1893, in the vicinity of Worth Township, and states that in 

 the year 1896 they seemed to be quite abundant. Mr. A. W. Butler 

 records flocks being seen in Cook Co., 111., in April, 1896, and again 

 in October of that year (Birds of Indiana, 1897, p. 932). 



Kumlien and Hollister consider it "as rare and of extremely 

 erratic occurrence in Wisconsin" having " found it but a few times 

 and never in flocks of any size." 



Several specimens in the Field Musetim of Natural History col- 

 lection were taken at Worth, Illinois, May 3, 1894. 



Genus RHYNCHOPHANES Baird. 

 247. Rhynchophanes mccownii (Lawr.). 

 McCown's Longspur. 

 Distr. : Interior of North America, from the Saskatchewan to 

 Texas and northern Mexico; breeds from Kansas and Nebraska 



