Loag Island Bird Notes. Wm.Dutcher 
18. Calcarius lapponicus. Lapland Longspur. — This 
boreal species, usually so rare, seems to have been in a roving 
mood during the winter of 1884-85. At Far Rockaway Beach, 
Queens Co., February 7, 1885, while on a collecting trip with 
Dr. A. K. Fisher, one was secured by him as it was flushed from 
the short beach grass where we were looking for Ipswich Spai- 
rows. February 26, 1885, several flocks of from six to ten indi- 
viduals were found by Mr. W. F. Hendrickson on some filled-in 
roads, running through what was formerly a swamp, in the upper 
part of Long Island City, Queens Co. They were in company 
with a few Snowflakes and Horned Larks. Two days later he 
saw a few scattered Longspurs and one mixed flock of Longspurs, 
Horned Larks, and a few Snowflakes. This flock, he says, con- 
tained about twenty or twenty-five Longspurs. They were very 
wild and difficult of approach. Four were secured and preserved. 
All were males and were in good condition. This Arctic wave 
must have been receding, as no more were seen, although Mr 
Hendrickson carefully looked for them in the same and other lo- 
calities many times subsequently. As from a receding wave one 
often sees a fleck of foam left lightly resting on the beach, so must 
this bird-wave have left one of its number on the Hempstead 
Plains (Queens Co.), where it was found and shot by Mr. A. H. 
Hawley, April 18, 1885. 
Auk, 3, Oct., 1883, p. Lf / 1 
On the same day (Feb. 16) my brother found a flock of eleven Lapland 
Longspurs ( Calcarius lapponicu s), one of which he shot. When first 
seen they were by themselves, but when shot at became mixed with a 
flock of thirty Shore Larks which began to quarrel with them as soon as 
they alighted, evidently try ing to drive them away. This made the Long- 
spurs restless and no more were shot. Next day (Sunday) my brother 
and I, armed only with an opera glass, went to look for more Longspurs. 
When coming over the edge of a small hill I flushed a flock of about a 
dozen Shore Larks, and noticed as they flew straight away from me that 
one bird in the flock had a noticeably white tail, similar to that of the 
Chestnut-collared Longspur mentioned above. This flock flew a hundred 
yards or so and alighted among a number of large boulders, and although 
I examined the ground carefully from a distance of forty yards or so (as 
near as- 1 was able to get) I could not find the bird with the white tail. 
Upon trying to approach closer they flew sidewise to me, so that I cbuld 
not see the tail-feathers very well, and went too far for us to follow them. 
On top of the hill I found one Lapland Longspur and approached within 
about thirty feet of it, when it took wing and, when flying, was joined by 
two more of its species and a couple of Shore Larks. The Lapland Long- 
spurs when flying with Shore Larks resemble the latter • so closely that 
they can only be distinguished by their note, which is so different that no 
mistake can possibly be made. 
On Feb. 18 my brother found a flock of about forty Shore Larks, con- 
taining a few Lapland Longspurs, two of which he shot. On the 20th a 
few Lapland Longspurs were seen with a flock of Shore Larks, but were 
so wild that they were given up after about three hours of persistent hunt- 
ing. On Feb. 22, my brother, a friend, and myself were out and saw two 
Lapland Longspurs in a flock of forty or fifty Shore Larks. They were 
very wild and flushed out of range, but flew back past us, when I recog- 
nized one of the Longspurs by its call and shot it. We have, seen none 
since the 22d, although we have been over the ground on which they were 
found several times.— W. F. Hendrickson, Long Island City, N. T. 
Auk, VI. April, 1889. p. 
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