BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



2 55 



1867 to 1872 he used to find this bird common up to November 16th; after this 

 it grew scarce and was gone by December 1st. It was never found in winter, 

 and only once did he find it in the spring, and then a single bird. Mr. Brewster 1 

 calls it " an early spring and late autumn migrant, and occasionally winter resi- 

 dent, rare in most parts of New England, but regularly common at Ipswich, 

 Massachusetts, in November." 



Since 1898, I have found the Longspur in December at Ipswich and have 

 found them common in that month nearly every year since. In 1902 and 1904, 

 I found them common in January. On January 12th, 1902, Mr. H. M. Spel- 

 man, Mr. R. S. Eustis, and I found between forty and fifty of these birds at 

 Ipswich. 2 Four or five were on a hillside about half a mile from the beach, and 

 the remainder among the sand dunes by the sea. On January iSth following, 

 Mr. R. H. Howe, Jr., and Mr. L. A. Shaw saw six or seven Longspurs at 

 Ipswich, 3 and on January 26th, Dr. A. L. Reagh and Mr. Shaw saw about 

 thirty at Great Neck, Ipswich. In the severe winter of 1904, I found about 

 twelve Longspurs on January 4th, on Castle Hill, at Ipswich, and Mr. Hoffmann 

 and I found six on January 24th, at Ipswich. That same winter four birds of 

 this species stayed until March 4th. They remained under somewhat artificial 

 circumstances as they were fed daily near the town of Ipswich among a flock of 

 Snow Buntings and Horned Larks. This interesting record was given me by 

 Miss Sarah E. Lakeman, who with several other Ipswich bird-students observed 

 the birds closely, and made an accurate and unmistakable drawing of one of the 

 Longspurs. Besides this spring record I have been able to obtain only two 

 others. One is of a male in fine spring plumage, and is now in the collection 

 of the Boston Society of Natural History, labeled Swampscott, May 1st, 

 1877. 4 The other is recorded by Mr. Maynard 5 who states that he once 

 obtained a single straggler at Ipswich, in April. Another spring specimen was 

 taken just outside the limits of the County at Revere Beach on March 10th, 

 1884, by A. M. Tufts, and is now in the mounted collection of Mr. William 

 Brewster. In order to show as exactly as possible the numerical standing of the 

 Lapland Longspur in different months, I give here the following census of this 

 bird as found at Ipswich by several observers as well as by myself during the 

 last eleven years. The earliest October record was made by Mr. Walter Faxon. 

 October 9, 1897, 3 ; October 12, 1895, 5 ; October 16, 1904, 2 ; October 20, 

 1894, 40; October 22, 1901, 3; October 23, 1902, 10; October 24, 1893,2; 



1 Win. Brewster, ed. : Minot's Land-birds and Game-birds of New England, p. 194, 3d ed., 1903. 



2 C. \V. Townsend : Auk, vol. 19, p. 202, 1902. 



S G. M. Allen: Auk, vol. 19, p. 202, 1902. 



4 T. M. Brewer : Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 19, p. 257, 1878. 



6 C. J. Maynard: Handbook of the Sparrows, Finches, etc., of New England, p. 39, 1896. 



