McCOWN'S LONGSPUR 1587 



It is being carried away and is usually dropped while the bird is on 

 the wing." 



The solicitude of the male and the female for the young increases 

 as the nestlings become more and more feathered. DuBois (1937a) 

 writes: 



When I caught a fledgling near nest 59, on the day it left, * * * its father 

 flew at my head, excitedly singing the trio of notes that is so characteristic. One 

 day I managed to catch a youngster that was an excellent runner. Upon turning 

 it loose I gave forth the most distressing squeaks of which I was capable. Quickly 

 five adults appeared upon the scene and tried to lead me away. They alighted 

 approximately in a row, well deployed, as though for battle; and when I followed, 

 they all ran through the grass ahead of me, in company front, in a manner that 

 was very amusing. 



Mickey (1943) found that 



an incubating female would normally leave the nest and settle in the grass some 

 distance from her nest during my visit to it. The brooding female would leave 

 the nest if disturbed, but fed close by. By the time the nestlings were nine days 

 old, both adults kept close to the nest during my visit, alternately feeding nearby 

 and circling low over the nest, uttering sharp calls. On the day the young left 

 the nest, both adults continually flew about me calling, chip-pur-r-r-r chip-pur-r. 

 They were just as excited at my intrusion on the following day, although later 

 than this I did not notice any anxiety on the part of the adults, unless I accidentally 

 flushed a young bird. 



In their Montana and Wyoming observations, DuBois (1935) and 

 Micke^r determined that, with some exceptions, the normal period of 

 nestling life was 10 days. At that time the nestlings "can run at a 

 lively rate, fluttering their wings if pursued," says DuBois. "Two 

 days later (age 12 days), as observed at nest 59, they are able to fly 

 for short distances." One bird in Mickey's study area, an 11-day-old 

 fledgling, had a very weak flight but "in another day it could fly 

 thirty feet or more." A fledgling DuBois (1923) caught 6 feet from the 

 nest on the 10th day, when released scrambled "over the ground at a 

 lively rate, fluttering its wings as it runs, although it is not very large." 

 Two days later he concluded his notations with : "The young longspurs 

 are now able to fly for short distances." 



Plumages. — -The following descriptions appear in Ridgway (1901): 



Tail (except middle pair of rectrices) white, broadly tipped with dusky. 



Adult male in summer. — Forehead and anterior portion of crown, more or less 

 distinct rictal streak, and crescentic patch across chest, black; posterior portion 

 of pileum and hindneck pale brownish gray, streaked with dusty, especially the 

 former; back and scapulars, pale wood brown, or pale buffy brown, broadly streaked 

 with dusky; rump and upper tail-coverts grayer (especially the latter), less 

 distinctly streaked; more anterior lesser wing-coverts ash gray with dusky (mostly 

 concealed) centers; posterior lesser coverts and middle coverts chestnut; rest of 

 wing grayish dusky with pale brownish gray edgings, the primaries narrowly 

 edged with white (outer web of first primary almost entirely white), the greater 

 coverts and secondaries rather broadly (but no distinctly) tipped with white; 



