ALASKA LONGSPUR 1625 



nest late in incubation. These and the associated display are described 

 by Nelson (1SS7): "In one instance a parent was driven from her 

 eggs just as they were about to hatch, and she ran along the ground 

 for a few yards, uttering a plaintive note, like chee chee chee, in a fine, 

 vibrating, metallic tone, at the same time dragging her outspread 

 wings and tail upon the ground, and fluttering as though in mortal 

 agony." 



Field marks. — P. A. Taverner (1934) writes: 



The adult male has the throat black like the face, instead of white as in 

 McCown's, or buffy as in Smith's and the Chestnut-collared Longspurs. Harris's 

 Sparrow has a similar black face and bib, but is otherwise an entirely different- 

 appearing bird, with light grey ear-coverts, and no chestnut collar. Females and 

 juveniles with the distinct or semi-obscured chestnut collar are easily separated 

 from McCown's and Smith's, but may be very similar to the Chestnut-collared. 

 They are distinctly larger birds, however, wing 3.50 and over instead of 3.25 or 

 under, and the collar is well developed instead of vaguely defined or absent. The 

 w hole bird is more sharply streaked. The black suffuses around ear-coverts and 

 across the lower neck, and the underparts are solid white. Female and juvenile 

 Chestnut-collared Longspurs may have a veiled black spot below a light throat, 

 but the abdomen is a dusty buffy and usually shows more or less irregular intrusion 

 of black. Autumn juveniles are still more confusing. They have a general 

 appearance of a streaked buffy bird, with white, rarely cream, abdomen, with but 

 traces of veiled black down sides of throat from corners of bill, and across upper 

 breast. The tips of the ear-coverts are bordered by a conspicuous brown or black 

 patch that is absent in the Chestnut-collared and McCown's Longspurs and much 

 smaller or absent in Smith's. The best test for the species, in this plumage, is 

 the white or faintly cream abdomen. * * * In addition to details previously 

 mentioned, other plumages are more streaky than other longspurs, and never as 

 evenly buffy as Smith's. * * * The subspecific distinction is slight. 



R. T. Peterson (1941) notes that the spread tail is predominently 

 black with white edges, whereas the amount of white in the tail of 

 McCown's and the chestnut-collared longspurs exceeds the amount of 

 black. The flight is undulating. 



T. S. Roberts (1932) points out that female or autumn birds can be 

 confused with vesper sparrows, but the longspurs have different tail 

 patterns, customarily occur in flocks, and have different call notes. 

 He also says they "resemble the House Sparrow more closely than 

 anything else, but habits and notes are very different." Further, the 

 "bird hops or runs instead of walks." 



Additional features brought out by H. F. Witherby et al. (1938) are 

 the absence of white in the wing, the comparatively thick upper 

 mandible, and the long, lark-like, hind claw. 



Enemies. — Observations at Cape Thompson indicated that the 

 greatest losses of nests were caused by predation, which accounted for 

 approximately 77 percent of the losses over a 2-year period. Arctic 

 foxes (Alopex lagopus), ground squirrels (Citellus undulatus), and 

 weasels {Mustela erminea, Mustela rixosa) were the predators believed 



646-737— 63— pt 3 25 



