ALASKA, 177 



this period the male is assiduous in bringing food, and, at fre- 

 quent intervals, sings his simple but sweet song, rising, as he 

 begins it, high up in the air, as the skylark does when caroling, 

 and, with the end of the stave, dropping suddenly to the 

 ground again. The young are early provided with a gray 

 downy coating, which is speedily replaced by a plumage resem- 

 bling that of the adult female, and, in less than four weeks 

 from the day of hatching, the little snaguiskie is as big as its 

 parents, and weighs more. 



" The food of this species consists of the various seeds and 

 insects peculiar to the rough, higher grounds it frequents. It 

 never flies about in flocks, and at this season cannot be called 

 gregarious, like the Lapland longspur, witii which it is asso- 

 ciated on these islands." 



153. Plectrophanes lappoiiiciis, (L.) Seimy.— Lapland Longspur. 

 " Karesch-navie snaguiskie." 



We give a description of the breeding-plumage of the female, 

 probably not generally known : Upper parts of the body, 

 wings, and tail almost precisely as in the mal«. Cervical collar 

 evident, but not sharply defined, nor so rich in color. Black of 

 the crown variegated with pale tips of the feathers ; white of the 

 supra-ocular and post-auricular lines tinged with buff; no con- 

 tinuous pure black on the sides of the head, chin, or throat; 

 sides of the head blackish, interrupted with grayish auriculars ; 

 throat similarly varied, but chin left nearly pure white, the 

 pattern of the black which occurs in the male being thus clearly 

 indicated, but interrupted and obscured ; sides of the breast and 

 belly with disconnected, sparse, sharp, slender, dark-brown 

 streaks, instead of the pure black, continuous, broad and 

 heavy stripes of the male; otherunderpaytsasin themale. Bill 

 obscure yellowish, dusky at tip ; feet dark brown, but not black. 

 Dimensions slightly inferior to those of the male. 



The eggs of the Lapland longspur are extremely variable in 

 coloration — few more so. They range from a nearly uniform 

 dark chocolate-brown, (much like those of a marsh-wren,) 

 through a lighter chocolate in innumerable dots on a grayish- 

 brown ground, to a peculiar brownish-white ground, variously 

 clouded and smirched with chocolate, and having, besides, 

 irregular sharp spots, scratches, and straggling lines of black- 

 ish brown. The general aspect of these,eggs is like that of an 

 oriole's or blackbird's. They measure .80 to .90 in length by 

 12 AL 



