1640 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part s 



the midst of a field of winter wheat which was almost knee high at 

 the time the nest was found." 



At Kegina, Saskatchewan, Margaret Belcher (1961) found the birds 

 preferred sparse to heavy grassland: "* * * I noted with interest that 

 the longspurs were more numerous in a 160-acre pasture that had been 

 over-grazed than in an adjacent 320-acre pasture with a good stand of 

 grass. Fox had a similar impression when checking a small pasture 

 near Regina View School, southeast of the city, for Chestnut-collared 

 Longspurs' nests. In 1960 when there were no cattle in the pasture 

 and the grass was long, no nests were found when the area was checked 

 with a rope; in 1961 when the pasture was patchy from grazing, it was 

 noted that the longspurs had chosen the bare patches for their nests." 



We found a few nests at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in very sparse 

 pasture with little cover for the nests. Though one nest was in quite 

 thick grass over a foot high, the preferred habitat seemed to be un- 

 grazed fields of medium thickness up to eight inches tall which offered 

 good concealment and yet allowed the birds easy walking. The nests 

 were built on level or gently sloping prairie, and not in the low areas 

 that would flood in heavy rains. The steeper slopes were not suitable 

 for the cup-shaped hollows they dig for their nests. 



The nest is built by the female alone. Three different females we 

 watched gathered the material a short distance from the nest site, 

 mostly within 100 feet, and usually walked with it to the nest. DuBois 

 (1935) describes the nest-building process as follows: 



On the afternoon of May 22 I discovered a nicely rounded hollow in the ground, 

 amidst the grass. There was no loose dirt near it. When I returned the next 

 morning the nest proper had been started at the rim. There were only two weed 

 stems at the bottom of the hole. Two and a half days later, at 9:30 a.m., the entire 

 excavation has been lined with dead grass blades and stems, but the material was 

 as yet rather loose in the bottom, while the rim was apparently finished. The 

 grass material of the rim had been interwoven with the basal stems of the standing 

 grass which grew around the nest. It seems especially noteworthy that the 

 weaving of the rim was the first work done upon the nest structure. By 8 a.m. 

 on May 27 (about four days after construction had started) the nest was apparently 

 finished, with some white hairs added to the lining. The first egg was probably 

 laid early the next day, as there were two eggs on the evening of the 29th, three on 

 the morning of the 30th, and four on the morning of the 31st. 



* * * 



The body of all nests examined was composed entirely of dried grasses. These 

 grass materials consist of both blades and stems, varying in different nests as to 

 age and texture. One nest was made of old, soft, and shredded grasses; others had 

 very old grass around the rim but fresher grasses in the bottom. Old, weathered 

 grass in the rim is clearly an aid to concealment. 



* * * 



The materials used for linings include grasses, rootlets and hair, in various com- 

 binations and proportions. * * * The rim of the nest is usually flush with the 

 surface of the ground. 



