Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 



Jiange— Interior of North America, from the arctic coast to Illinois 



and Texas. 

 Migrations— 'Wmttr visitor. Without fixed season. 



Confined to a narrower range than the Lapland longspur, 

 this bird, quite commonly found on the open prairie districts of 

 the middle West in winter, is, nevertheless, so very like its cousin 

 that the same description of their habits might very well answer 

 for both. Indeed, both these birds are often seen in the same 

 flock. Larks and the ubiquitous sparrows, too, intermingle with 

 them with the familiarity that only the starvation rations of mid- 

 winter, and not true sociability, can effect ; and, looking out upon 

 such a heterogeneous flock of brown birds as they are feeding 

 together on the frozen ground, only the trained field ornithologist 

 would find it easy to point out the painted longspurs. 



Certain peculiarities are noticeable, however. Longspurs 

 squat while resting ; then, when flushed, they run quickly and 

 lightly, and "rise with a sharp click, repeated several times in 

 quick succession, and move with an easy, undulating motion for 

 a short distance, when they alight very suddenly, seeming to fall 

 perpendicularly several feet to the ground." Another peculiarity 

 of their flight is their habit of flying about in circles, to and fro, 

 keeping up a constant chirping or call. It is only in the mating 

 season, when we rarely hear them, that the longspurs have the 

 angelic manner of singing as they fly, like the skylark. The 

 colors of the males, among the several longspurs, may differ 

 widely, but the indistinctly marked females are so like each other 

 that only their mates, perhaps, could tell them apart. 



Lapland Longspur 



(Calcarius lapponicus) Finch family 



Called also: LAPLAND SNOWBIRD; LAPLAND LARK 

 BUNTING 



Length — 6. 5 to 7 inches. A trifle larger than the English sparrow. 



Male — Color varies with season. Winter plumage : Top of head 

 black, with rusty markings, all feathers being tipped with 

 white. Behind and below the eye rusty black. Breast and 

 underneath grayish white, faintly streaked with black. Above, 



148 



