80 CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR. 



brownish, the throat and chest also more or less streaked with dusky ; otherwise much as in summer, 

 but middle and greater wing-coverts distinctly tipped with white. Adult female in summer: Much 

 like winter male, but smaller, paler, and grayer, without deep black or pure white on lesser wing- 

 coverts; in winter, similar, but more buffy. 



"Length, 6.45 inches; wing, 3.65; tail, 2.75 inches. Female smaller." (Ridgway.) 



Chestnut-collared Longspur. 



Calcarius ornatus Stejneger. 



IJ^HIS beautiful Longspur, which is also known to the ornithologist as the Chestnut- 

 collared Bunting and Black-bellied Longspur, is an abundant and character- 

 istic species of the Missouri region. Originally discovered by Townsend on the upper 

 Missouri, it has since been traced far north in the interior of British America, and 

 southward, in elevated regions, to Vera Cruz and Orizaba. I have only met with the 

 birds in the prairies of Lafayette, Lee, and Bastrop Counties, Texas, in winter, when they 

 were observed in company with Horned Larks. Their favorite resorts are along old 

 trails and abandoned w^agon roads where the grass is short. "In their search for food 

 they fly near the ground, in an easy, w^avy, circling manner, constantly chirruping as 

 they go, dropping down here and there and running swiftly about. Busy bodies, that 

 have to labor hard and long, in order to pick up enough of the tiny seeds upon which 

 they feed to satisfy their wants." (Goss ) 



Dr. J. A. Allen found these Longspurs breeding in the vicinity of Fort Hays, 

 Kansas. He writes: "Common out on the plains almost every where, it being one of the 

 most interesting and characteristic species of the plains. It has a short, shrill, but very 

 sweet song, which is often uttered while on the wing. It is very wary for so small a 

 bird, and has the habit of circling round the observer when disturbed for several minutes 

 together, approaching tantalizingly near, with feints of nearer approach, but generally 

 keeping well out of range. The nest is a very neat, though slight structure, placed of 

 course upon the ground, and is composed of dry, fine grass and rootlets. The eggs are 

 generally five, blotched and streaked with rusty on a white ground. Full sets of fi-eshly 

 laid eggs were first found about June 3. I met with it in winter from Fort Hays west- 

 ward, nearly to the Colorado line, indicating that it is resident here the whole year." 

 Undoubtedly the Chestnut-collared Longspur also breeds in Nebraska and South 

 Dakota, and Dr. Elliott Goues observed the bird during the breeding season in the 

 greatest abundance in North Dakota. "On the bare plains," he says, "away from a 

 single landmark, it is perhaps the most abundant bird of all, though Baird's Bunting 

 and the Missouri Skylark are not far behind in this respect. All three associate inti- 

 mately together, and there is a great general similarity in their habits. The nest of the 

 present species is placed on the ground, effectually concealed beneath some little tuft of 

 grass; it is a slight aifair, merely a few fine grasses and slender weed-stems, for the 

 most part circularly disposed, and considerably hollowed. Like the nests of most other 

 Sparrows that breed on the ground, it is sunken in a depression so as to be flush with 

 the general surface. It measures about three and one-half inches across outside, and 



