124 PLECTROPHANES MACCOWNII. 



and small spots of dark brown, wliollj^ indeterminate in distribution 

 and number, but always conspicuous, being sharply displayed upon the 

 subdued ground color. I think that two or three broods are reared 

 each season, for I have found fresh eggs and newly hatched birds the 

 same day, July 18th, when a week before I had shot young birds already 

 on the wing; and again, I have fouud fresh eggs so late as the first 

 week in August. When the nest is approached, the female generally 

 walks quietly off, after a little liutter, threading her way through the 

 grass till she is at a safe distance, and then taking wing. Should the 

 young be hatched, however, both parents will hover togetner close over- 

 head, in evident distress, with beseeching cries. 



The young birds keep much together until they are well on wing, 

 when they form larger flocks by uniting several families together. As 

 soon as the care of the last brood is over, they are joined by the 

 parents, now, in August, moulting, and in poor plumage, forming troops 

 of great extent, which scurry over the prairies in search of food. Later 

 still, in September, they are joined by numbers of the P.pictiis from the 

 north, and a few P. lapponicus, all associating together, and having 

 much the same habits ; they remain in this part of the country until the 

 middle of October, at least, and then proba,bly wend their way South. 



This bird has a peculiar note, difficult of description, but easily 

 learned ; in the breeding season it is a flue songster, having a soft and 

 pleasing, though rather weak twitter. Its ordinary flight, when undis- 

 turbed, is perfectly undulatory, as much so as that of the C'hrysomitris, 

 and with each impulse of the wings it utters its chirp. When startled 

 from the ground it flies hastily, in a wayward cour.se, which makes it 

 difficult to shoot; the various members of a flock fly separately, but 

 generally straggle after each other, to settle again at no great distance 

 and resume their rambling search for food. Like the other small birds 

 of the prairie, it haunts the roads where, as the grass is worn away from 

 the wheel-tracks, it feeds and runs with the greatest ease. I never saw 

 one alight except on the ground. In flight, it may always be recognized 

 by the amount of white on the tail. In size, it varies from 5^ to (i^ in 

 length, by lOJ to lOf in extent. With the renewal of the feathers, the 

 birds come into a much purer and richer plumage than that worn dur- 

 ing the summer. Young male birds very early show some black on the 

 under parts, but the distinctive head-markings do not appear to be 

 assumed until the following spring. A large number of the old fall 

 birds have perfectly black bend of the wing; but few show, in any 

 plumage in this region, the rich, rusty-red edgings of the feathers of 

 the under parts, which is so conspicuous in more southerly examples. 



PLEGTEOPHAXES MACCOWl!fII, Lawr. 



Maccoirn's Biintiag. 



Flectroplianes maccownii, Lawk., Add. Lye. N. Y. vi, 1851, 122 (Western Texas). — Mac, 

 Ann. Lye. vi, p. 14.— Cass., 111. 18.)5, •Zi-', pi. 39.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 437.— 

 Heeb.m.,P. R. R. Rep. s, 1859, Parke'.s Route of 32° parallel, Birrls, 13.— Hayd., 

 Rep. 186-2, 165.— Dress., Ibis, 1865, 487 (Texas).— Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 

 1870, 464.— Allex, Boll. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 145, 177 (Cheyenne, Wyoming Ter., 

 abundant, breeding; Western Kansas, in -winter). — CouEs, Key, 1872, 134. — 

 B. B. & R., N. A. B. i, 1874, 523, pi. 24, f. 1. 



Sab. — Middle Province United States ; north to the Black Hills ; east to Western 

 Kansas, Western Texas, and New Mexico. 

 Lieutenant TTan-en's Expedition. — 8954-6, Black Hills. 

 Later Expeditions.— G0396, Wyoming. 

 Not obtained by Captain Raynolds' Expedition. 



Since its disCt^ery ]^g'j^^p^]^ Wcmsof^^^^ ^^ *^® United States 



