244 Bird Studies. 



rump have little or any of this marking. There is a median gray streak, 

 dividing the crown and a lighter stripe above each eye defining it. Usually 

 there is a dull yellow or pale sulphur area in front of the eye, and the bend 

 of the wing almost always shows the same shade. Below the birds are 

 white washed with pale brown on the sides and flanks and sometimes on the 

 breast. The breast, sides, and flanks are streaked with dusky brown. 



The nesting is similar to that of the Savanna Sparrow and the eggs are 

 much like those of that bird. They are more than four fifths of an inch long 

 and three fifths of an inch broad. 



The Lapland Longspur is a boreal bird, breeding in the northern por- 

 tions of the Northern Hemisphere. In the winter migrations they regularly 

 reach the northern borders of the United States. On the 

 Lapland Longspur. p ra j r } es o f ^ G interior they are especially abundant dur- 



Calcarius lapponicus (Linn.)- 7 o . ,, 



ing the winter. Sometimes they appear in Northeast- 

 ern America, as far south as the Middle States, and they have been recorded 

 as far south as South Carolina. 



The birds are about six inches and a quarter long, and the males are 

 somewhat longer than the females. In the breeding season old males are 

 black on the head, neck, and breast. This area is broken by a broad buff or 

 white stripe behind the eye, prolonged downward and backward along the 

 sides of the breast. The back of the neck is reddish brown. The back is 

 black streaked with light buffy brown. The tail is dusky with some white on 

 the webs of the outer feathers. The belly is white and the sides and flanks 

 are streaked with black. In winter the black on the head appears only 

 on the crown, in the region about the ears, and somewhat on the lower 

 throat and breast. The rest of the head, the back, and sides of the neck, the 

 upper throat, and much of the breast are dull buffy brown light in tone. The 

 back is streaked with black, reddish brown, and varying shades of buff. 

 The under parts are white and the sides and flanks streaked black and 

 brownish buff. 



The female in the breeding; season is similar in color to the male in win- 



o 



ter but with the black regions more restricted and broken and the back of the 

 neck streaked with black. In winter the females have little or no reddish 

 brown on the back of the neck and the colors throughout are obscured by 

 brownish. 



The birds build nests of moss and grasses on the ground. From four to 



