1636 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 3 



Minnesota * * *. It has entirely disappeared in recent years from 

 this range, except for a few small isolated colonies on the first sand 

 ridge along the Red River Valley in western Pennington and eastern 

 Polk counties * * * and in central Norman County." 



Frank Roy (1958) of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, reports: "The 

 Chestnut-collared longspur was an abundant bird in the Lucky 

 Lake-Birsay region from the year 1937 to 1944. As many as 15 pairs 

 used to nest in a fifty-acre pasture on our farm. By 1945, not more 

 than seven or eight pairs nested in the same area. In 1946 five pairs 

 remained. In 1947 not a single bird nested in the pasture (which, by 

 the way, has been reduced to 20 acres in extent). Since that date, 

 the Chestnut-collared Longspur has become progressively more 

 scarce, even in the extensive tracts of pasture west and south of 

 Lucky Lake and Beechy." 



Nonetheless, large areas of suitable grassland still exist on the 

 northern prairies, and where conditions are favorable the breeding 

 population of chestnut-collars can be quite heavy. Elmer T. Fox 

 (in Belcher, 1961) found 11 nests on about 20 acres of pasture near 

 Regina, and we found 19 territories (16 nests located) on 50 acres of 

 waste land at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. As several of the early 

 writers mention it as "abundant locally," perhaps the species has 

 always tended to nest in loose "colonies" in concentrated groups of 

 territories. E. T. Seton (1886) notes that in Manitoba it was "Local 

 in distribution, many pairs sometimes affecting a limited area of dry 

 prairie, while again for miles no more of the species are to be seen." 



Much of the following information has been extracted from an un- 

 finished study of the chestnut-collar in Saskatchewan. D. J. T. 

 Russell cooperated with me on the breeding biology work, and several 

 other friends have given help and advice. 



Spring. — Very little information is available on the northward mi- 

 gration of the chestnut-collared longspur. Comparatively few of the 

 species have been banded (1,067 to 1962, with only 3 returns to the 

 place of banding and no recoveries reported) . The summer and winter 

 ranges meet in northeastern Colorado and Nebraska, and much of their 

 migration seems to consist merely of a northward drifting, in company 

 with the flocks of other longspurs and of horned larks, from their 

 winter home on the deserts and plateaus of northern Mexico and the 

 plains of the southwestern United States to the northern prairies. 



Several writers have noted their habit of stopping for several days 

 at favorable feeding and watering places. W. H. Osgood (1903) says 

 of their migration through Cochise County, Arizona: "In February 

 and March the chestnut-collared longspur was exceedingly abundant. 

 They were seen flying over at all times and at nightfall clouds of them 



