McCOWN'S LONGSPUR 1569 



of its former range, leaving only a small remnant population of 

 scattered pairs in the extreme western part of the State near the 

 Montana line." 



It is sobering to reflect on his next statement: "At the present time, 

 there is some doubt as to whether McCown's Longspurs breed any- 

 where in North Dakota, although spring and fall migrations are of 

 regular occurrence in the western areas. If breeding populations are 

 present they must be either very rare and local or irregular in occur- 

 rence. While searching for them during the past two summers, I 

 have combed the native prairies in the northwest quarter of the 

 State, but without success." 



At this writing, Montana seems to be the last stronghold of 

 McCown's longspur in the United States. Stewart (letter, 1964) 

 says that it is "common and widespread over most of the short grass 

 prairies" there; "in the northeast portion, considerable numbers may 

 be found within 50 miles of the North Dakota boundary. On July 3, 

 1953, I made a detailed list count of breeding birds occurring in 

 approximately 200 acres of lightly grazed short-grass prairie, located 

 in Roosevelt County, about 18 miles northeast of Wolf Point." 

 How numerous McCown's was in the study area as compared with 

 other emberizine forms can be seen in Stewart's list of relative 

 abundance: 



Savannah Sparrow 7 



Clay-colored Sparrow 1 



Chestnut-collared Longspur 44 



McCown's Longspur 20 



Is it significant that this area of comparative abundance is con- 

 tiguous to the area in the Canadian Provinces where McCown's 

 longspur still maintains itself with something of its former vigor? 

 The center of population seems to be northeastern Montana west- 

 ward, the adjacent regions in Saskatchewan from Willow Bunch 

 northwest to Gull Lake and Golden Prairie, and the southeastern 

 portion of southern Alberta. Whether the density of population is 

 contiguous or broken into widely distributed breeding colonies seems 

 not to be known. C. Stuart Houston writes me (letter, 1964) that 

 in Saskatchewan there appears to be additionally a wide area of 

 lesser density which apparently runs from Estevan northward to 

 Fort Qu'Appelle, northwest to Outlook and Rosetown, and westward 

 to the Alberta border. This would include the "elbow" region of the 

 South Saskatchewan River. 



In this "fringe" area the bird seems to show considerable fluctuation 

 in numbers and in appearances in a given locality. M. Ross Lein 

 (letter, 1964) says that in the Estevan region during the period 1958- 



