THE ALASKAN LONGSPUR. ear 
No. 37. 
ALASKAN LONGSPUR. 
A. O. U. 536a. Calcarius lapponicus alascensis Ridgw. 
Description.—Adult male im summer: Head, throat, and fore-breast black; 
a buffy line behind eye and sometimes over eye; a broad nuchal patch, or collar, 
of chestnut-rufous; remaining upperparts light grayish brown, streaked with 
black and with some whitish edging; below white; heavily streaked with black 
on sides and flanks; tail fuscous with oblique white patches on the outer rectrices; 
feet and legs black; bill yellow with black tip. Adult male in winter: Lighter 
above; the black of head and chestnut of cervical collar partially overlaid with 
buffy or whitish edging; the black of throat and breast more or less obscured by 
whitish edging. Adult female in summer: Similar to male in summer, but no 
continuous black or chestnut anywhere; the black of head mostly confined to 
centers of feathers,—these edged with buffy; the chestnut of cervical collar only 
faintly indicated as edging of feathers with sharply outlined dusky centers; black 
ot throat and chest pretty thoroly obscured by grayish edging, but the general 
pattern retained; sides and flanks with a few sharp dusky streaks. Adult female 
m winter: |Description of October specimen taken in Seattle] Above buffy 
grayish brown streaked (centrally upon feathers) with black, wing coverts and 
tertials with rusty areas between the black and the buffy, and tipped with wiite; 
underparts warm buffy brownish, lightening on lower breast, abdomen, and under 
tail-coverts (where immaculate), lightly streaked with black on throat, chest, and 
sides, sharply on sides and flanks. Length of adult males about 6.50; wing 
3.77 (95.8) ; tail 2.50 (63.3) ; bill .46 (11.7) ; tarsus .86 (21.8). Female smaller. 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; terrestrial habits; black head and 
breast of male. The bird may be distinguished from the Horned Lark, with 
which it sometimes associates, by the greater extent of its black areas, and by 
the chirruping or rattling cry which it makes when rising from the ground. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Nest: in grass tussock on ground, 
flimsy or bulky, of grasses and moss, frequently water-soaked, and lined carefully 
with fine coiled grass, and occasionally feathers. Eggs: 4-6, light clay-color with 
a pale greenish tinge, variously marked,—speckled, spotted, scrawled, blotched, or 
entirely overlaid with light brown or chocolate brown. Av. size .80 x .62 (20.3 x 
15.7). Season: first week in June; one brood. 
General Range.—‘“The whole of Alaska, including (and breeding on) the 
Pribilof and Aleutian Islands, Unalaska, and the Shumagins; east to Fort Simp- 
son, south in winter thru more western parts of North America to Nevada 
(Carson City), eastern Oregon, Colorado, western Kansas, etc.” (Ridgway). 
Range in Washington.—Presumably of more or less regular occurrence in 
winter on the East-side. Casual west of the Cascades. 
Authorities.—[“Lapland Longspur,’ Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 
(1885) 22.] Dawson, Auk, Vol. XXV. Oct. 1908, p. 483. 
BY all the rules this bird should be abundant in winter in the stubble 
fields of the Palouse country, if not upon the prairies of Pierce, Thurston, and 
