82 BAIRD'S SPARROW. 



single note. They live on weed and grass seeds, especially on the spiny seeds of the 

 sand-spur or bur-grass (Cenchras), a vile weed. 



This Longspur inhabits the great western plains and probably breeds from northern 

 Kansas northward to the Saskatchewan, wintering from Kansas and eastern Colorado 

 southward through western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to Mexico. 



Dr. J. A. Allen observed McCown's Longspur in the vicinity of Cheyenne, and also 

 near Laramie City. A nest, found by him on Heart River, Dakota, July 7, 1873, was 

 built on the ground, and constructed of decomposing woody fiber and coarse grasses 

 with a lining of finer grasses. It contained four eggs, of a dull white ground-color; the 

 markings are obscure and rather sparse mottling, with some heavier, sharp, scratchy 

 ones, both brown, of different intensity. They measure about 0.80X0.60. 



NAMES: McCown's Longspdh, McCown's Bunting. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Plectropbanes mccownii J^avrr. (1851). RHYNCHOPHANES MC COWNII 'Ridgw. 



DESCRIPTION: SP. CHAR. "Tail-feathers (except middle pair) white, broadly tipped with black (outer 

 feathers almost entirely white). Adult male in summer: Middle, and posterior lesser, wing-coverts 

 rufous; crown, rictal stripe, and crescentic patch on chest, black; sides of head, grayish; back, etc., 

 gray or brownish, streaked with dusky; lower parts (except chest) white, tinged laterally with 

 grayish. Adult male in winter: Crown and other upper parts, dull brownish-buff, streaked with 

 dusky; black rictal streak obsolete, and black patch on chest hidden by light dull buffy tips to 

 feathers. Adult female: Similar to winter male, but without concealed black on chest or rufous on 

 wing-coverts. 



"Length about COO inches; wing, 3.60; tail, 2.40 inches." (Ridgway.) 



BAIRD'S SPARROW. 



Ammodramus bairdii Giebel. 



^HIS Finch inhabits the Great Plains, from Dakota and Montana to the Sas- 

 katchewan in summer. In winter it is found as far south as Arizona and New 

 Mexico, and I have noticed large numbers from November to March in the weedy 

 cotton and corn-fields of Lee and Fayette Co., Texas. In its maimers it closely 

 resembles the Savanna Sparrow. 



According to the observations of Dr. Elliott Coues, Baird's Bunting is extremely 

 abundant in Dakota, in some places outnumbering all other birds together. He did not 

 see it immediately along the banks of the Red River, but at once encountered it beyond 

 the low^ Pembina range of mountains, thirty or forty miles west of the river, as soon as 

 he came upon the high prairie. This was the second week in July, when he saw young 

 birds just fledged, though the great majority were then breeding. The males attracted 

 attention as they sat singing on the low bushes of the prairie, the females lying con- 

 cealed in the grass, incubating or attending to the young. The song is peculiar, consist- 

 ing of two or three distinct syllables, in a mellow, tinkling tone, running into an 

 indefinite trill; it may be suggested by zip-zip-zip-zr-t-r-r. In their general appearance 

 and habits, the birds are so nearly the same as the Savanna Sparrows, that it was 



