McCOWN'S LONGSPUR 1583 



On one occasion DuBois (1923) watched while "a male came to the 

 nest and presumably fed the female, for she was on the nest." 

 On the hatching of the eggs Mickey (1943) writes: 



On July 5, 1938, at 6:30 a.m., after flushing the female from nest 9, I found that 

 her eggs were in the process of hatching. One young bird had already emerged 

 from the shell; its down was still wet and clinging to the body. There was a large 

 hole in the side of a second egg, through which could be seen the bill and part of 

 the head of its occupant. A small, circular, cracked area, not yet broken through, 

 was observed in the side of a third egg. Sounds and faint tappings could be 

 detected coming from the fourth egg. When I visited the nest the following 

 morning, all four had successfully hatched. 



DuBois (1923) observes that during the early stages of the second 

 nesting young birds are sometimes seen near the nest. On June 28 

 he discovered "a young bird, fully grown and 'on the wing' " on the 

 ground near an incubating female, "presumably her offspring, from 

 an earlier nest, although no more definite evidence could be secured 

 to prove this assumption." On June 29 at a second nest from which 

 the female had been flushed, "Two birds, able to fly, were in the grass 

 near her; the nest contains four eggs which are apparently incubated." 

 These eggs hatched on July 5. 



In her studies on the Laramie Plains, Mickey (1943) found that 

 climatic conditions might effect hatching success to a considerable 

 degree, as might an increase in the number of predators in the area. 

 During a three-year period, 11 of 45 nests were completely suc- 

 cessful, 16 were partially successful, and 18 were failures. "A total 

 of 153 eggs were deposited in 45 nests, averaging 3.4 eggs per nest. 

 Of these 92, or 60 percent of the total number laid, were hatched; 

 71 birds, representing 46.4 per cent of the eggs laid, were fledged, 

 giving an average of 1.58 birds per total nest, or 3.5 birds per suc- 

 cessful nest." 



Young. — Details concerning the young have been chronicled 

 discerningly by DuBois (1937a) and Mickey (1943), especially by 

 the latter who writes: 



The young were hatched blind but not entirely naked, for the dorsal feather 

 tracts were covered with long, buffy down. The skin appeared dark where it 

 was stretched over the body, yellowish where it lay in loose folds. The light, 

 tan-colored egg-tooth was very prominent on the grayish bill. The egg-tooth 

 was shed the fifth day. * * * 



The nestlings were blind for two days. Occasionally on the third day they 

 momentarily opened their tiny, slit-like eyes. By the fourth day they could keep 

 their eyes open for several minutes, although, if undisturbed, they rested quietly 

 in the bottom of the nest with eyes closed. On the fifth day they appeared 

 much more alert for even though they sat quietly in the nest, they peered over 

 the rim with bright, beady eyes. 



When eight days old, the nestlings were no longer content to sit quietly 

 in the nest, but moved about considerably, preening, stretching their necks, 



