124 PLECTROPHANES MACCOWNII. * 



and small spots of dark brown, wholly indeterminate in distribution 

 and nmiiber, but alwa3\s conspicuous, being sharply displayed upon the 

 subdued ground color. I think that two or three broods are reared 

 eacli season, for I have found fresh eggs and newly hatched birds the 

 same day, July 18th, when a week before I had shot young birds already 

 on the wing; and again, I lia%'e found fresh eggs so late as the first 

 week in August. When the nest is approached, the female generally 

 walks quietiy ofl', after a little flutter, threading her way through the 

 grass till she is at a safe distance, and then taking wing. Should the 

 young be hatched, however, both parents will hover together close over- 

 head, in evident distress, with beseeching cries. 



The joung birds keep much together until they are well on wing, 

 when they form larger flocks by uniting several families together. As 

 soon as the care of the last brood is over, they are joined by the 

 parents, now, in August, moulting, and in poor plumage, formiu'g troops 

 of great extent, which scurry over the prairies in search of food. Later 

 still, in September, they are joined by numbers of the P. pictufi from the 

 north, and a few P. lapponiciis, all associating together, and having 

 much the same habits ; the^" remain in this part of the country until the 

 middle of October, at least, and then probably wend their way South. 



This bird has a peculiar note, difficult of description, Ijut easil.v 

 learned ; in the breeding season it is a fine songster, having a soft and 

 pleasing, though rather weak twitter. Its ordiimry flight, when undis- 

 turbed, is perfectly undulatory, as much so as that of the Ckrijsomitris, 

 and with each impulse of the wings it utters its chirp. When startled 

 from the ground it flies hastily, in a wayward course, which makes it 

 difficult to shoot; the various members of a flock fly separately, but 

 generally straggk^- after each oth^r, to settle again at no great distance 

 and resume their rambling search for food. Like the other snmll birds 

 of the prairie, it haunts the roads where, as the grass is worn away from 

 the wheel-tracks, it feeds and runs with the greatest ease. I never saw 

 one alight except on the ground. In flight, it may always be recognized 

 by the amount of white on the tail. In size, it varies from Sf to ()| in 

 length, by lOJ to lOf in extent. With the renewal of the feathers, the 

 birds come into a much purer and richer plumage than that worn dur- 

 ing the sumiiier. Young male birds very early show some black on the 

 under parts, but the distinctive head-markings do not appear to be 

 assumed until the following spring. A large number of the old fall 

 birds have perfectly black bend of the wing ; but few show, in any 

 plumage in this region, the rich, rusty-red edgings of the feathers of 

 the under parts, which is so conspicuous in more southerly examples. 



PLECTEOPHAXES MACCOWNII, Lawr. 



Msiccown's Bunting. 



Plectropliancs maccownii, Lawr., Anu. Lye. N. Y. vi, 1851, 122 (Western Texas). — Mac, 

 Ann. Lye. vi, p. 14.— Cass., 111.' 16.')5, 22t<, pi. 39.— Bi)., B. N. A. 18.58, 437.— 

 Hker.m.,P. R. R. Rep. x, 1859, Parke'.s Route of 32^" parallel, Binls, 13.— Hayd., 

 Rep. 1862, 165.— Dress., Ibis, 1865, 487 (Texas).— Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 

 1870, 464.— Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 145, 177 (Cbeyenue, Wyoming Ter., 

 abundant, breeding; Western Kansas, in winter). — Coues, Key, 1872, 134. — 

 B. B. & R., N. A. B. i, 1874, 523, pi. 24, f. 1. 



Hai. — Middle Province United States ; north to the Black Hills ; east to Western 

 Kansas. Western Texas, and New Mexico. 



LicHtoiaiit Warren's Expedition. — 8954-6, Black Hills. 



Later Erpeditions.—GO'ldG, Wyoming. 



Not obtained by Captain Rayuolds' Expedition. 



Since its discovery by Captain Maccown, then of the United States 



