426 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



viduals August 29. My attention Avas first attracted to them by their 

 characteristic notes, several sharp ' chips ' uttered in quick succession. 

 They were shy and none were secured. 



In the spring of 1904 I noted the arrival of this species at Fort 

 Simpson on May 18, when I collected a single male. On May 20 I 

 found a flock of about 25 in the fields back of the post, and secured 

 10 specimens, including both sexes. When disturbed, the birds flew 

 in a loose flock, not nearly so fast as the Lapland longspurs, and 

 usually only a short distance. AVhen feeding they were very difficult 

 to detect. Their characteristic note was heard only a few times. 

 The species was last seen May 21, when a pair was collected. A 

 specimen taken some years ago at Fort Rae was in the museum at 

 Fort Simpson. 



Eoss recorded this species from Fort Simpson ; ^ specimens taken 

 by him at that place May 21 to 25, 1860, and May 25, 1862, as well 

 as a pair taken by Kennicott at Fort Good Hope, May 31, 1862, and a 

 female, with nest and five eggs, from Fort Anderson, are still in the 

 National Museum. The catalogue shows that skins were received 

 also from Fort Resolution, Fort Anderson, and Anderson River. In 

 the latter region MacFarlane found it breeding abundantly.^ In 

 notes sent to the Smithsonian Institution he states that it arrived at 

 Fort Anderson on May 27, 1865. From the notes of Spreadborough, 

 Macoun records that a few were seen at Egg Lake, Peace River 

 (latitude 56°), August 30, and others at Lesser Slave Lake, Septem- 

 ber 5, 1903. On the authority of Raine, he states that the species 

 breeds abundantly on the Caribou Hills, 80 miles south of the Arctic 

 coast, to the Avest of the Mackenzie Delta, Avhere I. O. Stringer found 

 several nests in June, 1897.^ Reed records eggs taken at Herschei 

 Island, June 10, 1901, by the same collector.'^ Seton has recently 

 recorded the painted longspur from Aylmer Lake, where one was 

 seen August 13, 1907.^ 



Rhynchophanes mccowni (Lawr.). McCown Longspur. 



This longspur is an abundant inhabitant of the northern plains, 

 and reaches only the southern part of the region now under considera- 

 tion. 



«Nat. Hist. Rev., II (second ser.), p. 281, 1862. 



^Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, p. 441, 1891. Cones (Birds of the Northwest, 

 p. 121, 1874) mentions eggs from Great Slave Lake, but there is evidently some 

 mistake in connection with them. The only egg in the U. S. National Museum 

 alleged to be from that region is No. 7415, one of two labeled as taken by J. 

 Lockhart at Fort Resolution, but entered in the catalogue by Baird as "P?ec- 

 trophanes pictusfJ' It is thus probably incorrectly identified, and in all prob- 

 ability the bird does not breed south of the Barren Grounds. 



c Cat. Canadian Birds, Part III, p. 456, 1904. 



^ N. A. Birds' Eggs, p. 252, 1904. 



eAuk, XXV, p. 72, 1908. 



