306 NOTES ON THE 



Mr. Washburn reported a flock of six of these birds, October 

 22d, at Dead lake, Otter Tail county, and again on November 

 1st, at Lake Mille Lacs, where he found them abundant. He 

 says: "When flying they utter a loud chirp, and with it a 

 musical 'purr' which is very pleasing. The large flocks 

 seemed restless and shy, flitting about like wind-blown snow 

 flakes, the uneasiness of one bird seeming to communicate itself 

 to the rest, and a whole flock would thus be kept in almost 

 constant motion over the same bushes of the lake shore." 



This allusion to its note and peculiar purring sound inter- 

 larded, expresses all of its habits in this respect that could be 

 said in a chapter. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



In full plumage the colors are entirely black and white. 

 Middle of back between scapulars, terminal half of primaries 

 and tertials, and two innermost tail feathers black, elsewhere 

 pure white. Legs black at all seasons. In winter dress, white 

 beneath; head and rump yellowish brown, as are also some 

 blotches on the side of the breast; middle of the back brown 

 streaked with black; the white on the wings and tail much 

 more restricted. 



Length, 6.75; wing, 4.35; tail, 3.05, first quill longest. 



Habitat, northern parts of Northern Hemisphere. 



CALCARIUS LAPPONICrS (L.). (536.) 

 LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 



Another variably represented species of semi- arctic birds, 

 occasionally appearing in countless thousands on our plowed 

 fields, from the 15th to the 30th of September, remaining until 

 December, when it disappears until in March, remaining about 

 a month, when it moves northward again. Dr. Hvoslef reports 

 it abundant at Lanesboro on our extreme southern line in 

 migration. He saw it there on February 22, 1885, in a flock of 

 five individuals on a high, bleak prairie. Prof. C. L. Herrick 

 reported it abundant at Lake Shatek, in the same latitude. Mr. 

 P. Clague pronounces it very abundant in migration at Her- 

 man, Grant county, a favored locality for most open-field birds. 



Like the Snow Buntings, some of them linger in their vernal 

 sojourn. In 1877, some were seen as late as May 3d. Although 

 Dr. Coues, in his Birds of the Northwest, expresses the opin- 

 ion that they may breed in Minnesota, I have gotten as yet no 

 reliable evidence that they do. As of Snow Buntings, loiterers 



