^°i89o'."'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 591 



184. Calcaiius pictus. Siiiitli's Lougspur. Painted Loogspur. 



Abundant spring, but rare fall migrant ; one in Smitbsoniau Insti- 

 tution from Pembina, September (Keunicott). Mouse River (Coues). 

 Carberry : Extremely abundant; migrant; staying for about two weeks 

 in spring, and returning for a few days in the fall (Thompson). Severn 

 House: Seems scarcer tbau the others; Sir Johu Richardson mentions 

 that he had only obtained one specimen ; three have been sent to me 

 (Murray). 



May 13, 1882, on the plains south of the Souris River, a few Painted 

 longspurs were observed with the immense Hock of Lap Lougspurs that 

 are now passing northward. 



May 17, 1881, Carberr3' : The Painted Longspurs are here now in 

 enormous numbers, accompanying the Lap Longspurs. They sing a 

 sweet continuous song while perching on a clod. To-day I went out to 

 collect a tew out of the vast flocks that are daily about the newly sown 

 fields ; northwest wind was blowing and I approached from the east, but 



1 could not detect a bird on the ground, although I was springing them 

 from my very feet at each step. They have a habit of squattiug closely 

 when approached, then springing up they fly off with undulating flight ; 

 and as during this it is not easy to collect the bird, I got no specimens 

 until it occurred to me to go around and approach the flock from the 

 west. As soon as 1 did so the Avhole field seemed alive with the long- 

 spurs; their gay bosoms were thickly speckling the dark earth for acres, 

 and 1 had no ditticulty in getting as many as 1 needed. 



Although in full song I could detect no signs of amatory passion in 

 these birds,so that no doubt they go very much farther north to breed. 



185. Calcarius ornatus. Cbestuut-collared Longspur. Black-breasted Lougspur. 



Common summer resident ; local in distribution, many pairs some- 

 times affecting a limited area of dry prairie, while again for miles no 

 more of the species are to be seen. Wonderfully abundant; breeding 

 along the boundary from 20 miles west of Pembina Mountain to Mon- 

 tana (Coues). Winnipeg: Summer resident; abundant (Hine). Shoal 

 Lake, May IC, 1887 (Christy). Portage la Prairie: 1890, a colony about 



2 miles north of here (Nash). Breeding in numbers on the Souris Plain, 

 between Brandon and the Brandon Hills and southwesterly, late in June 

 and early in July, 1881 (Macoun). Great numbers south of the Souris 

 on the Brandon Trail, a colony at Chater, and another in the Big Plain 

 near Boggy Creek (Thompson). 



May 15. Camp 30 miles south of the Souris, over the same monoto- 

 nous rolling prairie, a succession of ridges with duck-ponds in the hol- 

 lows between. The Black-breasted Longspurs are still very numerous, 

 though much less so than they were two days ago, and are now mostly 

 seen in pairs. The males are frequently seen to spread their pretty black 

 and white wings and tails and rise in the air about 10 feet, where they 



