186 



where Mr. Ragsdale has found it at Gainesville during several winters. 

 In the spring of 1884 tbe 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 regular 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 the trees. They 

 stayed through heat and cold, ice, sdow, and rain, until the bulk left 

 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 northern Illinois, but its true home is in the extensive plains of the 

 west and northwest. It does not breed within our limits. At Caddo a 

 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 18S5 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 18S5 the 

 known winter range of the species was slightly extended to the south- 

 eastward by its appearance, November 10, at Bonham, 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 Longsjmr. 



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, Yol. 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. Ornith. Club, Yol. VII, 1882, pp. 37-38), says that 

 these two species, G. ornatus&nd E. mccownii, 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* 



