186 
where Mr. Ragsdale his found it at Gainesville during several winters. 
In the spring of 1884 the bulk left Gainesville March 5, and one was 
seen April 1. At Caddo, Ind. Ter., a little to the northeast of Gaines- 
ville, in a strictly prairie country, they were found to be an abundant 
and apparently regalar winter visitor. Two flocks and many scattered 
birds were seen November 17, when there was hardly a sign of ap- 
proaching winter and the leaves had not all fallen from thetrees. They 
stayed through heat and cold, ice, snow, and rain, until the bulk lett 
February 19, and the last on the 26th. East of the Mississippi the 
species extends in winter to the prairie regions of southern Wisconsin 
and vorthern Illinois, but its true home is in the extensive plains of the 
west and northwest. It does not breed within our limits. At Caddoa 
fine male was shot while sitting on a tree, the only one that was ever 
seen to alight elsewhere than on the ground. 
In the spring of 1885 a specimen of Smith’s Longspur was shot at 
Fayetteville, Ark., February 28, and sent to me for identification. At 
Des Moines, Iowa, about 50 were seen April 18. In the fall of 1835 the 
known winter range of the species was slightly extended to the south- 
eastward by its appearance, November 10, at Bonliam, Tex., where it 
was common November 16. At Gainesville, Tex., the first was seen 
November 14. In Manitoba it is abundant during the migrations, par- 
ticularly in spring. 
538. Calcarius ornatus (Towns.). [189.] Chestnut-collared Longspur. 
This is one of the most abundant birds of the western Plains. It is 
resident in western Kansas and Nebraska, breeding north to high lati- 
tudes in summer, and wandering to southwestern Texas and Mexico in 
winter. In Manitoba it is a common breeder, but is somewhat local. 
It breeds commonly in Grant and Traverse Counties, in western Minne- 
sota (Roberts & Benner). The most southeastern record probably is 
that from Warrensburgh, Mo., where it was rather common in April, 
1874, (Scott, Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, Vol. IV, 1879, p. 143.) At Caddo, 
Ind. Ter., it was seen in the middle of February, 1884, in company 
with C. pictus and C.lapponicus. A question of the use and meaning 
of ornithological terms arises in connection with this and the following 
species. Mr. N.C. Brown, in his ‘Reconnaissance in southwestern 
Texas” (Bull. Nutt. Oruith. Club, Vol. VII, 1882, pp. 37-38), says that 
_ these two species, 0. ornatusand R. mecownii, do not winter there be- 
cause not found until February, and that the latter species is an un- 
common migrant, taken between February 11 and 21. In our Missis- 
sippi Valley work we would call both of these species winter visitants, 
restricting the term “migrant” or “transient,” which two terms are here 
used synonymously, 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 
Longspurs began to leave March 12, and the last was seen April 24, 
. 
