400 



S YS TEMA TIC S Y NOP SIS. — PA SSER ES— OSCINES. 



decreasino- amount : in Hicht the " white tail" is very conspicuous. Bill blackish-plumbeous; 

 feet dark. Smaller than the foregoing: Length 5.75-6.00, rarely 6.25; extent 10.25-10.75, 

 rarely 11.00; wing 3.00-3.30; tail 2.00-2.30. ?, in full dress: Rather smaller; size aver- 

 aging about the lesser figures just given. Upper parts, wings, and tail as before, but lesser 

 coverts not black ; chestnut collar obscured : crown like back, separated from the back-mark- 

 ings by a slight rufous dusky-streaked interval. Sides of head, and throat, whitish, with 

 dusky speckling on cheeks and ears. Under parts dull brown, fading to white on belly and 

 crissum, the feathers sometimes with dusky streaks. Thus an obscure bird : but observe ge- 

 neric characters, and extensively loliite tail. Adult $ , after fall moult : The full dress is confined 

 to the breeding season ; afterward, the colors are much obscured. Cervical collar and black 

 of head and belly veiled by gray ends of the feathers, but visible on raising the plumage. 

 Crown like back, with concealed black ; superciliary stripe and other distinctive head-markings 

 obliterated ; bill brownish-plumbeous. Changes in 9 parallel, but there is less to be altered. 

 Youne ^ 9 , before first moult : Whole upper parts blackish-brown, with semicircular gray 

 or whitish markings, and a slightly lighter cervical interval. Throat definitely white. Under 

 parts dull brown, heavily streaked with dusky, especially on breast. Much light brown 

 edging and tipping of quills and wing-coverts. Feet and bill pale. This stage is transitory ; 

 with first moult the young acquire characters above described for winter. A beautiful species 

 of interior plains, British America and U. S. and Mexico ; breeds in profusion on prairies of 

 Dakotas, Montana, and whole Upper Missouri and Saskatchewan regions, S. to Kansas or fiir- 

 ther ; has occurred in Massachusetts ; rarely W. of the Rocky Mts. Breeds in June and July ; 

 nest on ground, sunken flush with surface, of a few grasses and weed-stalks ; eggs usually 4, 

 about 0.75 X 0.55, white clouded with purplish shell-markings, gray the prevailing tone, this 

 irregularly dotted and veined with sharp dark-brown surface-marks. Young covered with 

 whitish down. In the breeding season the birds are fond of soaring and singing as they fly, 

 rising to great height and letting themselves down with the wings held like parachutes ; they 

 curiously resemble butterflies when so engaged. The white tail shows very conspicuously. 

 Ordinary flight wayward and vacillating ; song weak and twittering, but pleasing. The birds 

 flock as soon as young are fairly on wing, and leave the northern prairies in October. They 

 are associated in the breeding season with E. maccoicni, and joined in October by C jiictus 

 and lapponicus from the north. 



RHYNCHO'PHANES. (Gr. pCyxos, rhugchos, beak, and ^aiVco, phaino, I appear ; in allu- 

 sion to the turgid bill.) LoNGSPURS. Similar to Calcarius, but departing in the direction of 

 MontifringiUa (an exotic genus). Bill turgid, very stout and large in comparison ; culmen 



rising high on forehead, its outline 

 almost concave. Hind toe and 

 claw less developed. Hind claw 

 not longer than its digit, not nota- 

 bly straightened. Sexes dissim- 

 ilar. No cervical collar. $ with 

 black pectoral crescent and bay 

 bend of wing. Habits of Calca- 

 rius strictly. 



II. iiiaccown'i. (To Capt. J. V. 



McCown, U. S. A. Fig. 266.) 



"^-' -\ Black-breasted Long spur. 



_ ^ Bay-winged Longspur. J', in 



~-=^^^ -z^^"^-- " ^^^' f"^' dress: Upper parts slate- 



, , ,„ , , sjrav, streaked with dusky and 



Fio. 266. — Black-breastec' Longspur, reduced. (Sheppard del. ^ » ' 

 Nichols SC.1 grayish or yellowish-brown, es- 



