284 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the Longspur in winter will almost always distinguish it from the snow- 

 flakes, it has been my experience that bird students who are in the habit 

 of collecting find the Longspur more common than they had supposed 

 before shooting extensively. During many seasons this species is fairly 

 common on Long Island and on the plains near Lake Ontario and Lake 

 Erie. The reports of longspurs in New York are mostly between the 18th 

 of December and the 226. of February, the greater number having been 

 taken in January and the first half of February ; but Mr Dutcher records 

 a specimen from Shinnecock bay August 12, 1881, which is about 3 months 

 earlier than most of the dates before me. Another specimen he records 

 from Long Island City October 18. A record 6 weeks later than the usual 

 date of departure is April 18, 1885, a specimen from Hempstead Plains 

 reported by Mr Dutcher (Auk, 3 : 440) . 



Haunts and habits. The Lapland longspur resembles the Snowflake 

 in habits, walking instead of hopping, living entirely upon the ground 

 and traveling over the wide fields and desolate shores near the coast in 

 straggling flocks. It has a tendency, however, to fly higher in the air 

 than the Snowflake when disturbed in the open fields, or when migrating 

 across the country. 



Calcarius ornatus (J. K. Townsend) 



Chestnut-collared Longspur 



Plectrophanes ornata Townsend. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1837. pt 2. 



7:189 

 Calcarius ornatus A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 252. No. 538 



orn&tus, Lat., adorned, ornamented 



Description. Male in summer: Top of the head, stripe behind the eye, 

 chest, breast and belly black; the under parts sometimes edged with rufous; 

 hind neck rich rufous; stripe over eye, chin and throat ivhite; cheeks pale 

 buff. In winter the black largely concealed by light brownish. Female: 

 Upper parts light grayish buffy brown streaked with dusky; paler below. 

 Young: Dusky, margined with brownish white; an indistinct whitish 

 stripe over eye; cheek and throat white flaked with grayish dusky; lower 

 parts grayish buff, streaked on the breast and sides with dusky. Size of 

 the Lapland longspur. 



