408 
PASSERIFORMES 
ashy grey, softly streaked with brown above, and nearly even white below; slightly ashy 
across breast. Juvenile very much like that of Chestnut- collared Longspur, but larger 
and more white in tail. All the feathers of the tail, except middle ones, white, tipped with 
dark (Figure 485, compare with 488). 
Distinctions. The spring male, with its black cap and white face, and throat bordered 
by black crescentic gorget, is unmistakable. The female and juveniles are very much 
like those of the Chestnut-collared Longspur, but more ashy in general coloration and 
with much more white in the tail. Size is a good distinction from that species (wing over 
3-25). The back is not as strongly streaked as in the Lapland Longspur, and there is no 
dark spot about the ear-covert tips as in the Lapland and Smith's. 
Field Marks. As a summer resident in southern Canada, usually requiring separation 
only from the Chestnut-collared Longspur. Adult male: black-crowned, white-throated, 
with light face and crescent-shaped black gorget across breast. Females are best distin- 
guished in life by association with male, but separated from the Vesper Sparrow, which may 
have similar general colour effect, and the Chestnut-collared Longspur, by the large amount 
of white in tail (Figure 485, compare with 488 and 478), all the tail, except the middle 
feathers and a terminal bar, being white. 
In common with the Chestnut-collared Longspur, the male has a charming flight song 
that is given while slowly dropping from a height, with wings extended high over the back. 
Distribution. The Great Plains region of North America. In Canada, regularly only 
in the drier parts of the prairies of Saskatchewan and Alberta. It is irregular and local 
in distribution, but has been taken at Chilliwack, British Columbia. 
Very much the same habits and disposition as the Chestnut-collared Longspur. 
536. Lapland Longspur. le bruant lapon. Calcarius lapponicus. L, 6-25. 
Plate LXXXVI A. Adult male: streaked with dark brown, buff, and traces of ruddy 
ochre above; bright chestnut nape and hindneck band. Crown, black, broken by more 
or less defined median stripe of light ochre. Below, white with black throat, foreneck, and 
face; a white superciliary line. Black stripes and spots along flank. Females and younger 
males similar in general colour plan, but dingier and without solid colour anywhere. The 
chestnut nape always present or suggested, and the black of the face and foreparts repre- 
sented by veiled, broken masses about the edges of the areas. Some autumn juveniles 
are mostly streaky ochreous, lightening to white on abdomen. The nail of the hind toe 
is elongated as in the Horned Lark (See Figure 399). 
Distinctions. In the hand, only likely to be mistaken for one of the other longspurs. 
The adult male has the throat black like the face, instead of white as in McCown’s, or 
buffy as in Smith’s and the Chestnut-collared Longspurs. Harris’s Sparrow has a similar 
black face and bib, but is otherwise an entirely different-appearing bird, with light grey 
ear-coverts, and no chestnut collar. Females and juveniles with the distinct or semi- 
obscured chestnut collar are easily separated from McCown’s and Smith’s, but may be 
very similar to the Chestnut-collared. They are distinctly larger birds, however, wing 
3 -50 and over, instead of 3 -25 or under, and the collar is weil developed instead of vaguely 
defined or absent. The whole bird is more sharply streaked. The black suffuses around 
ear-coverts and across the lower neck, and the underparts are solid white. Female and 
juvenile Chestnut-collared Longspurs may have a veiled black spot below a light throat, but 
the abdomen is a dusty buffy and usually shows more or less irregular intrusion of black. 
Autumn juveniles are still more confusing. They have a general appearance of a streaked 
buffy bird, with white, rarely cream, abdomen, with but traces of veiled black dowrn sides 
of throat from corners of bill, and across upper breast. The tips of the ear-coverts are 
bordered by a conspicuous brown or black patch that is absent in the Chestnut-collared 
and McCown’s Longspurs and much smaller or absent in Smith’s. The best test for the 
species, in this plumage, is the white or faintly cream abdomen. 
Field Marks. By habit and association much like the Snow Bunting, the Horned 
Lark, or the other longspurs. Lack of the great amount of white, especially in wings, and 
the coarser, harsher note will separate from the Snow Bunting; sparrow bill and lack of 
yellow throat or ear tufts, and undulating flight, from the Horned Lark. The adult male, 
with his black face and bib, is distinct from the other longspurs. In addition to details 
previously mentioned, other plumages are more streaky than other longspurs, and never 
as evenly buffy as Smith’s. It is only a spring and autumn migrant, and not to be met 
with in southern Canada in summer when the Chestnut-collared and McCown’s Longspurs 
are most common. 
Distribution. The greater part of the northern hemisphere, breeding in the Arctics 
and migrating or wintering throughout southern Canada. 
