The Migratory Movements of the Lapland Longspurs in North Amer- 
ica- — The winter migratory movements of the Lapland Longspur ( Cal - 
caruis lapponicus) have been little understood by me, or by those persons 
whom I have consulted. I have, to satisfy myself, during the past 
month gathered together all obtainable data for North America, and 
have been thus able to explain their seemingly erratic movements, and 
I present the results thinking they may interest others. 
The Lapland Longspur ( Calcarius lapponicus ) and the Alaskan Long- 
spur (C. 1 . alascensis) breed in North America approximately north of 
the 6oth parallel from Ungava (Nachvak) to Alaska, the subspecies being 
confined to the country west of the 120th meridian. They nest during 
the months of June and July, reaching their breeding grounds in late 
May. By the last of August (Aug. 20) they begin their southward 
migration across southern Canada, occurring most abundantly in the 
central portions of their route (Manitoba). This is true of both their 
southward and northward journeys. They reach southern Labrador, 
Manitoba, and British Columbia in September, occurring in these locali- 
ties apparently only as fall and spring migrants. After entering the 
United States the ranks of Calcarius lappotiicus become more crowded 
into the central States as the eastern and western limits of their migra- 
tory route narrow, determined by the Alleghany and Rocky mountains. 
Stragglers only reach the Atlantic coast south of Ipswich, Massachusetts, 
and there are no records for the Alaskan Longspur south of Canada on 
the Pacific coast, the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountains proving an 
effectual barrier, as this subspecies is not recorded from California to 
my knowledge but seems to migrate down between the Rocky and the 
last named mountains through the Great Basin, and wanders during the 
winter to Colorado and western Kansas. Along the 47th parallel (Mon- 
tana, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan) the Lapland 
Longspur is a late September and October migrant, while to the south 
of the 40th parallel it occurs as a winter resident in large numbers as 
far south as the 37th parallel, occurring even occasionally in northern 
Texas (Gainsville). The wedge shape of the southern migration between 
the east and west mountain ranges explains why the Longspurs do not 
occur regularly all along the southern Pacific coast and on the Atlantic 
coast south of Massachusetts: a puzzle in the latter case, as formerly 
viewed from my local standpoint of Massachusetts alone.- 
The spring northward migration is exactly the reverse of the south- 
ward fall movement, the birds reaching the 47th parallel in late March, 
April and even May, and the 55th parallel in May. 
As is the case with all birds during their migrations, stragglers are 
left along the way either from exhaustion, injury or for less apparent 
reasons, so that we have winter record’s for Nova Scotia, Vermont and 
Wisconsin, due to some of the above causes, and for the same reasons 
we also have late May records for Longspurs in the southernmost States 
in which they winter. — Reginald Heber Howe, Jr., Long-wood, Mass. 
Auk, XVIII, Oct., 1901, pf>- 3 f 6 , 397 - 
