CHESTNUT- COLLARED LONGSPUR 1649 



tzip and a rattling tri-ri-rip indicate extreme alarm and perhaps anger. 

 On coming to the nest with food, the female sometimes utters a soft In, 

 and the young then stretch open their mouths. Low, conversational 

 notes are exchanged between the parents at the nest." To which it 

 should be added that birds also utter continuous buzz-buzz-buzz notes 

 during sexual and territorial chases. 



Behavior. — The different roles the male and female chestnut-collared 

 longspurs play on the nesting grounds result in wide differences in 

 their behavior. The male is well suited to his role of guarding the 

 territory against encroachment by rival males. He makes himself 

 conspicuous as possible by his flight songs and by perching above the 

 level of the grass. The female is quiet and tame. She rarely perches 

 above the ground level and she seldom flies. 



The female is so protectively colored and so agile afoot that she does 

 not have to be very timid. As she walks through the grass near the 

 nest she can be extremely hard to follow. As you approach she will 

 usually walk quietly away from you, occasionally flying 10 or 15 feet to 

 avoid being stepped on if you get too close. Her close sitting during 

 incubation and brooding also has survival value in foiling potential 

 predators. In one extreme case a female allowed me to photograph 

 her from a distance of 18 inches, and then catch her by hand on the 

 nest for weighing and color marking. 



The only time the female makes herself conspicuous is when trying 

 to attract your attention away from the nest. I have five records of 

 distraction displays by females in my notes, each when the young were 

 hatching. In each case the bird fluttered two or three feet into the air 

 in a series of six-foot jumps with head held low and tail flicked wide to 

 show all its white. John Horton of Moose Jaw told me of a male 

 doing a "broken-wing act" and trying to lead him away from a nest 

 containing young about a week old. 



Although the chestnut-collared lives peacefully with the other grass- 

 land birds and animals, it tries to drive away any that approach its 

 nest too closely. Our study area supported a heavy population of 

 Richardson's ground squirrels, and whenever one came near a nest, one 

 of the pair, usually the male, immediately attacked it. Fluttering and 

 chattering over the "gopher's" head, the bird drops down to peck its 

 head and back. Sometimes the gopher rears up at the bird, and I saw 

 one actually jump into the air at the attacker. Or there may be a 

 pause while bird and squirrel stand facing each other a few feet apart. 

 Eventually the longspur gets the animal running away from the nest, 

 and keeps chivvying it from above its back until it is a safe SO or 100 

 feet away from the nest. I saw one bird pause after attacking a 

 ground squirrel flick his bill several times as though to clear it of hair. 



I have seen the longspurs similarly attack gray partridges, meadow- 



