McCOWN'S LONGSPUR 1577 



On another occasion DuBois (1937b) "saw a male standing at rest 

 on a rock, holding one wing aloft and singing softly. Presumably 

 his mate was in the grass nearby. * * * The same day I saw a female 

 raise both wings and hold them quivering; and immediately her mate 

 ran past her, singing, and hoisting his white sail toward her." 



F. W. Mickey (1943) tells about a male that "was frequently seen 

 singing softly from the top of a small rabbitbrush, meanwhile making 

 little bows to the female in the grass below. Occasionally, he would 

 hold up one wing while he sang. At another time, while on the ground, 

 he raised the wing nearest the female and held its silver lining before 

 her. Then he ran over to the female; they both flew up and settled 

 in the grass some ten feet away." 



Sometimes what DuBois (1923) calls "a popular movie situation" 

 develops where a second male intrudes upon the domesticity of a 

 mated pair. One such incident occurred while nest building was still 

 going forward; another took place so late in the season that the mated 

 pair were brooding young. 



Mickey relates how on May 20 she encountered a pair of McCown's, 

 apparently a mated pair. They were: 



feeding side by side at the edge of the field. The female flushed and was followed 

 by the male; as they settled in the grass, another male alighted beside them. 

 Both males rose fighting; finally one was driven off. The victorious male re- 

 turned to the female, which had remained on the ground, and started bowing to 

 her. The other male returned; again they fought and chased each other about 

 until the female flew a short distance into the field. One male followed and 

 dropped close beside her; the other perched on the nearby fence. On May 24, 

 the nest in this territory was practically finished, but the two males were still 

 fighting each other. 



In this instance the affair ended somewhat inconclusively. Mickey 

 says that "two weeks later, this nest was destroyed and one of the 

 males disappeared." 



DuBois (1923) has an account of a Don Juan among the McCown's 

 which apparently was undismayed by an advanced season or a female 

 attentive upon a nest of young. DuBois writes: 



This morning, while she stood in the garden with a grasshopper in her bill, an 

 audacious stranger ran past her, making his bow with the wing nearer her. He 

 quickly made another advance with the evident intention of bowing to her again, 

 but she ran at him and drove him away. Her mate was on the nest, panting and 

 sweltering in the hot sun while bravely shading the young. He seemed in a posi- 

 tion to observe this attempted flirtation with his spouse, but he paid no attention 

 to it. I afterward saw the stranger again. * * * This time [he] came marching 

 into view ostensibly oblivious of the presence of the female which stood upon the 

 rock at the edge of the garden. He made no advances toward her * * *. But 

 she flew at him this time also, and he went away. 



Nesting. — The nest J. A. Allen (Coues, 1874) discovered in North 

 Dakota, July 7, 1873, probably the first McCown's longspur nest to 



646-737— 68— pt. 3 22 



