424 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



The records liaA^e been divided in accordance with this view, most 

 of them falling under C. lapj^onicus. Two intermediate specimens 

 from Fort Resolution, taken by Kennicott, are nearer to alascertsis, 

 but it is jDrobable that a large series from there would prove mainly 

 referable to C. lappoiiicus. 



On May 1, 1901, we saw immense flocks of Lapland longspurs in 

 the fields between Edmonton and Sturgeon River. We found the 

 species common at the mouth of the Athabaska, May IT, and took 

 3 s]Decimens. I found a few still lingering on the Quatre Fourches 

 marsh. May 23, and took a pair. The specimens collected are in full 

 breeding plumage and are referable to C. lapponicus. 



In the spring of 1903 we first observed this bird at Edmonton, 

 Ma}^ 10, noting about T5 individuals. We saw a large flock a few 

 miles to the northward on May 11, and found the species common 

 between there and Sandy Creek, May 12 to 14, taking a male on May 

 12. The species was next noted on the shore of Great Bear Lake 

 near Leith Point, August 29, when a few were seen and one was 

 taken. A few more were seen and another collected near the same 

 place on September 3. The species was last observed at Fort Frank- 

 lin, September 21, when one was shot on the ' barrens ' near the lake. 

 The specimens taken on Great Bear Lake are referable to the typical 

 form. On their return trip in the fall Alfred E. Preble and Merritt 

 Gary found the species migrating abundantly at Athabaska Landing, 

 September 1 to 21, and along the road to Edmonton, September 21 

 to 26. 



Li the spring of 1904 this species made its appearance at Fort 

 Simpson, April 25. Xine out of the series of 34 specimens of Lap- 

 land longspurs taken at this place prove referable to this form. Of 

 these, three were collected April 25 and 28, thus being from the 

 earliest flocks, and the remaining six between May 11 and IT. 



Under the name Plectrophanes lapponica^ Richardson described a 

 specimen killed May 20 at Fort Franklin, where the species was said 

 to arrive in the beginning of May.* During his third northern jour- 

 ney he observed numbers of young birds on the Arctic coast west of 

 Liverpool bay in the summer of 1848.^ J. C. Ross recorded the Lap- 

 land longspur from Port Bowen, where it arrived later and left 

 earlier than the snow -bunting.^ John Ross reported it from near 

 Felix Harbor, where it had eggs July 12, 1831.<^ Walker noted its 

 arrival at Port Kennedy on May 20, 1859, and stated that it breeds 

 there.*' MacFarlane found the bird breeding abundantly in the 



« Fauna Boreali-Americana, II, p. 249, 1831. 

 * Arctic Searcliing Expedition, I, p. 251, 1851. 



Parry's Third Voyage, Appendix, p. 97, 1826. 

 ^Narrative Ross's Second Voyage, p. 580, 1835. 

 « Proc. Roy. Soe. Dublin, III, p. 62, 1860. 



