ALASKA LONGSPUR 1621 



H. S. Swarth (1934) records colors of the soft parts quite accurately, 

 noting that in the young male the upper mandible is yellowish brown 

 with pale yellow edges, the lower mandible a grayish flesh color, and 

 the tarsus and toes brownish flesh color. The adults in summer have 

 a lemon-yellow bill with a black tip, the iris is brown, and the tarsus 

 and toes are dark brown. 



Food. — Gabrielson (1924) made an exhaustive examination of 656 

 stomachs, including 113 previously reported on by S. D. Judd, taken 

 from birds collected in Alaska, five provinces in Canada, and 15 states 

 of the United States, during every month of the year. He classifies 

 56 stomachs from Alaska and northern Canada, June to September 

 inclusive, as representing "summer," with the remainder being 

 "winter." Beetles, mostly chrysomelids and weevils, constituted 

 11.91 percent of the summer food. Fly remains, almost entirely the 

 eggs and adults of crane-flies (Tipulidae) constituted 17.77 percent. 

 Caterpillars, spiders, bugs, and fragments of other insects accounted 

 for 17.75 percent. Total animal food was thus 47.43 percent of all 

 food. Grass seeds formed 12.02 percent, seeds of sedges 4.16 percent, 

 seeds of a variety of other plants 27.86 percent. Bits of grass and 

 unidentified vegetable debris formed the remaining 8.53 percent. 



These foods" differ^little from those observed through study of the 

 contents of 90 stomachs taken at Cape Thompson during the summer 

 of 1960. Animal and plant food were taken in approximately equal 

 amounts with only a slight preference shown for the former. Im- 

 portant animal groups selected in order of occurrence in the stomachs 

 were beetles (Coleoptera), flies (Diptera), wasps (Hymenoptera) , bugs 

 (Homoptera), and spiders (Araneae). 



Gabrielson points out that over half of the 600 "winter" stomachs 

 were taken in Kansas under very similar conditions. They contained 

 largely millet and crabgrass seeds; animal food comprised only 3.97 

 percent, and four birds that had fed almost exclusively on carabid 

 beetles of the genera Platynus and Amara accounted for half this 

 total. Other animal food was chrysomelids, weevils, fly larvae, cater- 

 pillars, and spiders taken in varying quantities in every month except 

 February. Goose-grass (Eleusine) was an important item, as were 

 also sedge seeds. Seeds of purslane (Portulaca) were common but, 

 owing to small size, made up only 0.82 percent of the bulk. Seeds of 

 pigweed (Amaranthus) comprised 6.03 percent. Goose-foot (Cheno- 

 podium) and ragweed (Ambrosia) seeds were favored. Wheat formed 

 8.33 percent of the food and was eaten in every one of the eight months 

 except October. 



At Cape Thompson the young appeared to be fed animal food 

 exclusively. This was also the observation of Rowell (1956) who 

 noted that young longspurs were fed mainly adult Diptera, particularly 



