5S2 Fii-;li) Museum ok Natukai/History — Z()()loc,v, Vol. IX. 



McCowns Lonjspur. 

 (Tail ani upper tail coverts.) 



northward through the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana to the Sas- 

 katchewan; accidental in lUinois. 



Adult male in summer: Hind toe nail, long; crown, black; a 

 white line over the eye (superciliary line); sides of head, pale ashy; 

 a black malar stripe (extending from lower 

 mandible); throat, white; a large crescent 

 shaped black patch on the breast; rest of 

 under parts, whitish; back, grayish, streaked 

 with dusky and buff; a conspicuous chestnut 

 patch on the ''slioulder'' formed by the median 

 coverts; all tail feathers except the two middle 

 ones, mostly white, tipped with dark brown. 



Adult male in fall and winter: No black 

 on crown; breast patch, only slightly in- 

 dicated; head, buffy, the crown streaked 

 with dark brown; belly, whitish or white. It may be recognized by 

 the chestnut "shoulder" patch, and the characteristic marking of 

 the tailfeathers. 



Adult female in. fall and winter: Upper plumage, mixed buff and 

 dark brown; a rather faint, pale buff streak over the eye; throat, 

 buffy white; breast, pale tawny buff, at times tinged with dusky; 

 sides of body, washed with tawny buff; belly, whitish; chestnut shoul- 

 der patch (median coverts) of the male replaced by pale rufous brown; 

 tail markings, as in the male. 



Length, about 5.50 to 6; wing, 3.50; tail, 2.45; bill, .38. 

 McCown's Longspur is an accidental straggler in Illinois. The 

 only record I have been able to find of its occurrence in the state is 

 that of Mr. H. K. Coale in the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological 

 Club, 1877, p. 52, in which he states: " While looking over a box of 

 Snow Buntings and Shore Larks in the market. January 15, 1877, I 

 found a specimen of Plectrophanes mccowni shot at Champaign, Illi- 

 nois. January 17, another box containing Lapland Longspurs was 

 sent from the same place and among them was a second specimen of 

 P. inccowni, which is now in the collection of C. N. Holden, Jr., Chi- 

 cago. January 19, I obtained a third specimen from the same source, 

 which has been sent to Mr. E. W. Nelson of this city. They were 

 all males, showing plainly the chestnut coloring on the bend of the 

 wing and the peculiar white markings of the tail." 

 It has not been observed in Wisconsin.' 



