266 The Alaska Longspur 



suddenly appear in all the gaiety of their summer dress. At this season, 

 the males are beautiful, the head and breast being jet-black with white or 

 buffy stripes behind the eyes, the back of the neck bright rufous, and 

 the back streaked with black and brownish. These birds appear not to 

 undergo a spring molt, but to attain the breeding-dress by the wearing 

 away of the light edgings of feathers characteristic of the winter plumage ; 

 at the same time the remaining parts of the feathers appear to become 



brighter and richer, as though suffused with added 

 y coloring matter. There is considerable individual 



variation in color, due to a greater or less intensity 

 rather than to any change in pattern. 



The females, as usual among birds, are more obscurely marked, and 

 reach the breeding-ground a little later than the males. They arrive on 

 the coast of Norton Sound in flocks and spread rapidly over their breed- 

 ing-ground. 



Despite the bleak surroundings and chilling winds, the longspurs soon 

 become abundant, and by the middle of May are in full song. As if con- 

 scious of their handsome appearance, the males choose to sit on the tops 

 of projecting tussocks, rocks, or small knolls, the only breaks in the 

 monotonous surface, where their bright colors render them conspicuous. 

 The Lapland Longspur is one of the few birds, which, like the Sky- 

 lark and the Bobolink, is so rilled with the ecstasy of life in spring that it 

 must mount into the air to pour forth its joy in exquisite song. The males 

 are scattered here and there over the tundra on their chosen projecting 



points, and at frequent intervals mount slowly on 

 Fr"h" tremulous wings ten or fifteen yards into the air. 



There they pause a moment and then, with wings 

 up-pointed, forming V-shaped figures, they float gently back to their 

 perches, uttering, as they sink, their liquid notes, which fall in tinkling 

 succession on the ear. It is an exquisite, slightly jingling melody, with 

 much less power than, but resembling the song of the Bobolink. It has 

 more melody than the song of that bird, and is so filled with the joyous 

 charm of springtime that no one can hear it unmoved. The period of song 

 ends soon after the first of June, when brooding has begun. 



By the end of May each songster has found himself a mate, and to- 

 gether they build a snug home, placed on the ground, and as cleverly 

 hidden as circumstances permit. The nests are usually to be found in the 

 driest parts of the tundra, in a hummock, a tuft of grass, or perhaps in a 

 little bunch of dwarf willow ; and near St. Michael, in the proper sea- 

 son, one cannot search "about for half an hour without discovering several. 



As one approaches a nest the female usually flutters 



off at one's feet, and is immediately joined by the 



male. Both hover about or fly restlessly from tussock 

 to tussock, uttering protests at the intruder as long as he remains in 

 the vicinity. 



Whenever the eggs are nearly ready to hatch, the female shows 

 the greatest solicitude, and when the young appear, her anxiety is still 



