640 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 2 



reach the northern limit of its breeding range, southern Canada 

 from southern Alberta east to southwestern Manitoba, until the 

 first of June. W. W. Cooke (in Bailey, 1928) has described its 

 passage through New Mexico as follows: 



"In the spring of 1904 it arrived at Rinconada on April 23 * * * 

 and this is probably not far from an average date for northern New 

 Mexico. * * * The larger part have passed across the State by 

 the middle of May, but a flock of about thirty birds was seen at 

 Shiprock as late as June 2, 1907 * * *. The fact that they were 

 still in a flock would seem to indicate that they were late migrants, 

 rather than local breeders." 



By late March the vanguard reaches southwestern Kansas, although 

 the main body of migrants does not appear there until mid-April 

 (R. and L. Graber, 1951). About 2 weeks later lark buntings pene- 

 trate to the eastern plains of Colorado. The following charming 

 account of the species' appearance on the Colorado prairies was 

 written by Langdon (1933) : 



May adorns the prairies and hills with flowers and summons her choralists to 

 sing the joy of living. Heeding her call, as they have heeded it from time imme- 

 morial, the Lark Buntings begin to arrive in Colorado during the first week of 

 the Month of Flowers. The male is robed in black and white, but, infrequently, 

 his black coat is overcast with slaty gray, as if he had put on a silken duster. 



* * * And what of the subject of this Dandy's chivalrous attentions. If we 

 call the coat of the Western Lark Sparrow beautiful, we shall be obliged to say, 

 as alas we too often cannot truthfully say of the feminine-in-feathers. Lady 

 Lark Bunting wears a beautiful gown. Indeed, were it not for the light buff where 

 her spouse wears white, and for her "grosbeak", it would take close scrutiny to 

 distinguish her from the Western Lark Sparrow, often seen in the Lark Bunting 

 company during migration. Lady Bunting's large wing-patch, so evident in 

 flight, is, however, a certain badge of identity. 



Some authorities say the males precede the females in the spring by about 

 a week, but I do not remember seeing a segregated flock. I have seen a lone 

 scout travel in advance of the flocks a few days. In my experience, the Lark 

 Buntings return, singing joyously, in choruses of various numbers, from a few to 

 two or three hundred individuals, the average flock numbering perhaps twenty 

 to forty. 



On the average the lark bunting appears in central and western 

 Nebraska during the first week of May and in South Dakota and 

 eastern Montana a week later. Cameron (1908), in describing the 

 status of the species in Custer and Dawson counties in Montana, 

 stated that the lark bunting arrives "about the second week in May. 

 It is invariably called Bobolink and confused with that bird. The 

 males precede the females by about five days and, when all have 

 arrived, flying hosts are seen strung out for about a quarter of a mile. 



* * * Although essentially prairie birds, the flocks rest in the trees 

 when migi'ating through pine hills." Continuing their push northward, 



