CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR 1651 



tained cowbird eggs. None of the 38 nest-record cards in the Regina 

 Museum of Natural History mentions cowbird eggs. Of the 23 nests 

 Harris (1944) studied in Manitoba, only one was parasitized. Herbert 

 Friedmann (1963) concludes "This longspur is probably a not un- 

 common local victim of the northwestern race of the brown-headed 

 cowbird. The paucity of records seems to be due to a scarcity of 

 observers in the breeding range of the host. * * * North Dakota is 

 the only area where this longspur has been observed repeatedly as a 

 cowbird victim." 



Fall. — Harris (1944) gives the following fine description of the start 

 of autumn migration in Manitoba: 



The birds collected into flocks before turning southward. Young birds were 

 the first to gather, frequenting the outskirts of the nesting areas. With the 

 termination of nesting about the middle of August, adults joined the flocks of 

 juveniles. The species then entirely abandoned the grassy breedine grounds, 

 and was found in adjacent ditches, dried-up sloughs, and similar low-lying, 

 rough ground (though rarely stubble or plowed land). This rather remarkable 

 change of habitat may be due to the availability of the autumn crop of weed seeds, 

 combined with the reduced number of grasshoppers, which constitute the bulk 

 of the species' food in summer ; but the cause may lie deeper than that, and involve 

 the psychological and physiological changes bound up with migration. Young 

 and old together spent the last half of August in the new habitat, in loose, restless 

 flocks numbering up to 30 or more individuals. During September, southward 

 migration began, and the latest date on which I noted the species at Winnipeg 

 was September 28. 



The birds wander southward in large flocks to their winter range, 

 pausing at good feeding and watering point en route. Some remain 

 on the southern plains of the United States, the rest continue on to 

 northern Mexico. 



Distribution 



Range. — Southern portions of Prairie Provinces south to northern 

 Sonora, central Chihuahua, southern Texas, and northern Louisiana. 



Breeding range. — The chestnut-collared longspur breeds from south- 

 ern Alberta (Lundbreck, Beaverhill Lake), southern Saskatchewan 

 (Conquest, Quill Lakes), and southern Manitoba (Brandon, Winnipeg) 

 southeast to northeastern Colorado (Weld County), central northern 

 Nebraska (Holt County), and southwestern Minnesota (Jackson 

 County), formerly to western Kansas (Ellis County). 



Winter range. — Winters from northern Arizona (San Francisco 

 Mountain, Springerville), central New Mexico (San Mateo Moun- 

 tains), northeastern Colorado (Fort Collins), and central Kansas 

 (Larned, Manhattan) south to northern Sonora (Pozo de Luis; San 

 Pedro River at boundary), central Chihuahua (Chihuahua), southern 

 Texas (Rio Grande City, Brownsville), and northern Louisiana 

 (Gilliam); occasionally south to Puebla and Veracruz (Orizaba). 



