LAND BIRDS. 487 



This is another winter resident, often found with the Snow Buntings 

 and Horned Larks, but usually singly or in small numbers. On the other 

 hand as a migrant it frequently occurs in October and November, and 

 again in April and May, in large flocks, but apparently these do not use 

 the same route in successive years, for the visits at any one place seem to 

 be quite irregular. It seems to come from the north earlier than the Snow 

 Bunting, often as early as the first of October (Charity Island, Saginaw 

 Bay, Sept. 30, 1910, Wood), and frequently lingers until after the first of 

 May. We have records of two specimens killed on Spectacle Reef Light- 

 house, in northern Lake Huron, May 17, 1891, and May 15, 1892. Accord- 

 ing to Swales it does not occur commonly in southeastern Michigan, where 

 he has never observed it personally; on the other hand Mr. J. Claire Wood 

 states that he finds it a common spring migrant near Detroit up to the 

 first week in May. At Houghton, Mich., Mr. Wilbur H. Grant found it 

 by thousands October 1 and 2, 1904, and W. P. Melville found specimens 

 with a flock of Shore Larks at Sault Ste. Marie. October 6, 1898. At 

 Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1904, Mr. William Wilkowski, Jr., states that they 

 were first seen November 11, and were still there in flocks of hundreds on 

 November 19. He also says that they were abundant there during Decem- 

 ber, 1902, and January, 1903. 



In Ingham county it does not seem to be abundant regularly, but was 

 noted in some numbers by T. L. Hankinson as late as November 15, 1896, 

 and again in large flocks March 21, 1897. Undoubtedly the great majority 

 pass far south in the fall and return again in the spring, while compara- 

 tively few spend the winter with us. At Grand Rapids C. W. Gunn recorded 

 it years ago as a rare winter visitor, appearing in company with Shore 

 Larks and Snow Buntings; and in St. Clair county, Mr. P. A. Taverner 

 states that according to his experience there is always a little bunch of 

 Longspurs with each large flock of Snowflakes. For an account of the 

 migration of this species, from its breeding grounds north of the 60th 

 parallel to its winter quarters between the 40th and 37th parallel see R. 

 H. Howe, Jr., Auk, XVIII, 1901, 396-397. 



Its food while with us consists entirely of seeds of various weeds and 

 grasses, and so far as we know is precisely like that of the Snow Bunting. 



Before leaving us in the late spring it often sings snatches of its beautiful 

 song, but hardl}' enough to give a good idea of its quality. Of its song 

 in Alaska Mr. E. W. Nelson says: "It is an exquisite jingling melody, 

 having much less power than that of the Bobolink, Init of the same general 

 character; though shorter it has even more melody" (Nat. Hist. Coll. in 

 Alaska, p. 184). 



It breeds only in the far north, building its nest of grasses, moss, etc. 

 on the ground and laying three to six eggs, which are dull white, heavily 

 spotted and washed with ])rown, and averaging .83 by .60 inches. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Claw of liiiid toe longer than toe itself, gently curved; outer tail-feather with inner web 

 hir-oly blackish. 



Adult male in spring: Top and sides of head, entire throat, and chest deep black, often 

 with a few white or rusty feathers; a buffy or whitish stripe behind the eye, running down 

 the side of neck to the breast; iiiiid neck with a reddish brown or chestnut collar; rest of 

 upper parts streaked with black and buffy in about equal amounts; brea.st, belly and mider 

 tail-coverts white; sides and flanks streaked with blackish; wings blackisii, with two narrow 

 white bars (on tips of greater and middle coverts), tiie outer primary edged witli white 

 on outer vane; two outer pairs of tail-feathers marked obliquely with wiiite. The adult 



