118 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 10 



pany with all their long-clawed brethren 

 disappeared as suddenly as they had come. 

 In Kansas they were very numerous about 

 the same time, and a month later Nebraska 

 was the scene of action for the evolutions 

 of their mighty armies. In northern Min- 

 nesota, they disappear during the winter 

 to give place to the Snow Buntings, and 

 the first ones returned to Frazee City, on 

 March 9th. The last one left Manhattan, 

 Kan., the 22d of March, while as late as 

 April 19th, thousands were seen at Chica- 

 go, but left almost immediately. 



Smith's Longspur, ( Gentrophanes pictus). 

 This is another Longspur whose winter 

 journeyings have been lately discovered to 

 extend to Texas. Mr. Ragsdale has found 

 them to be present at Gainesville, Tex., 

 during several winters. Last Spring the 

 bulk left March 5th, and one was seen 

 April 1st. A little to the northeast of this, 

 at Caddo, Indian Territory, they were 

 found to be an abundant and apparently 

 regular winter visitor. Two flocks and 

 many scattered ones were seen November 

 17th, before there was hardly a sign of ap- 

 proaching winter, the leaves not all fallen 

 from the trees; and they stayed through 

 hot and cold ; ice, snow and rain, until the 

 bulk left February 19th, and the last one 

 on the 26th. East of the Mississippi it 

 extends in winter to the prairie regions of 

 southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, 

 but its true home is the extensive plains 

 of the west and northwest. It does not 

 breed within our limits. At Caddo a fine 

 ■male was shot while sitting on a tree, the 

 only one that was ever seen to alight else- 

 where than on the ground. 



Chestnut-collared Longspuk, ( Gentro- 

 phanes ornatus). This is one of the most 

 abundant birds of the western plains, 

 found resident in Kansas and Nebraska, 

 breeding north to high latitudes in sum- 

 mer and wandering to southeastern Texas 

 and Old Mexico in winter. The most 

 southeastern record is probably Caddo, 



Indian Territory, where it was seen the 

 middle of last February in company with 

 G. p>ictus and lapponicus. A question of 

 the use and meaning of ornithological 

 terms arises in connections with this and 

 the following species. Mr. N. C. Brown 

 in his " Keconnoissance in Southwestern 

 Texas," (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club VII. 1882, 

 pp. 37 and 38,) says that these two species 

 C. ornatus and H. maccowni, do not win- 

 ter there, because not found until Febru- 

 ary, and that the latter species is an "un- 

 common migrant, taken between February 

 11th and 21st." In our Mississippi Valley 

 work we would call both of these species, 

 " winter visitants," restricting the term 

 " migrant" or " transient," which two terms 

 we use as synonymous, to those birds 

 which are found only as they pass through 

 from a more southern to a more northern 

 dwelling place, or vice versa. 



At Gainesville, Tex., the bulk of the 

 Chestnut-collared began to leave March 

 12th, and the last was seen April 24th. 



McCown's Longspur, (Iihyncophanes 

 maccowni). This Longspur is more em- 

 phatically a bird of the western plains than 

 any of the preceding. There is only one 

 record of occurrence east of the Mississip- 

 pi ; it having been found accidentally at 

 Champaign, 111. The ordinary eastern 

 limit is western Kansas, Nebraska and Tex- 

 as. Nor does it proceed so far north ; the 

 Black Hills are about the northern limit. 

 It was found the past winter at Caddo, 

 Indian Territory, on January 19th, and at 

 Gainesville, Tex., is marked, winter resi- 

 dent, leaving March 12th. A small flock 

 was also seen on the 26th, an unusually 

 late date for this species. At Ellis, Kan., 

 they were found as a winter resident and 

 abundant in migration, but whether they 

 breed has not yet been decided. — • IF. IF. 

 Cooke, Caddo, Ihd., Ter. 



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