52 THE LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 
fellows, so that the flock as a whole produced quite the effect of a troubled 
snowstorm. 
Snowflakes occur singly or associated in flocks of from a dozen to 
several hundred individuals. Their thrilling, vibrant call note, few or 
te-ew, may be heard during the falling of the real flakes, when the passing 
bird is invisible. Careful scrutiny of loosely flocking Horned Larks may 
occasionally discover a stray Snowflake, as also a few Lapland Longspurs. 
Probably no winter passes in which a few of the birds do not reach our 
northern borders. But they rarely extend below the middle of the state, and 
only during the most severe winters are they found anywhere in large numbers. 
While with us they move from field to field in open places, seeking out the 
weed-seed which forms their almost exclusive diet. A few individuals may 
linger long enough in the spring to display the deeper browns and blacks of 
the breeding plumage. 
No. 24. 
LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 
A. O. U. No. 536. Calcarius lapponicus (Linn. ). 
Description.—Adult male in summer: Head, throat, and tore-breast black ; 
a buffy line behind eye and sometimes over eye; a broad nuchal patch, or collar, 
of chestnut; remaining upper parts brownish black streaked with rufous, buffy, 
or whitish edges of feathers; below white, heavily streaked with black on sides 
and flanks; tail fuscous with oblique white patches on three outer feathers; bill 
yellow with black tip. Female in summer: Similar, but no continuous black or 
chestnut anywhere; the black ot head mostly confined to centers of feathers,— 
these edged with buffy; the chestnut of cervical collar faintly indicated as edging 
of feathers with sharply outlined dusky centers; black of throat and breast pretty 
thoroughly obscured by grayish edging, but the general pattern retained; sides 
and flanks with a few sharp dusky streaks. 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. Length 6.50 (165.1) or less; wing 3.70 (94.); tail 2.53 
(64.3) ; bill .40 (10.2) ; hind claw .45 (11.4) ; hind toe and claw .75 (19.1). 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; terrestrial habits; black head and breast 
of male. The species may be readily 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. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Ohio. “Nest, of grasses and moss, lined with 
grasses, on the ground. Eggs, 4-6, bluish white, almost obscured by uniform 
grayish brown, .82 x .60 (20.8 x 15.2)” (Chapman). 
