Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 
Range — Interior of North America, from the arctic coast to Illinois 
and Texas. 
Migrations — Winter visitor. Without fixed season. 
Confined to a narrower range than the Lapland longspur, 
this bird, quite commonly found on the open prairie districts of 
the middle West in winter, is, nevertheless, so very like its cousin 
that the same description of their habits might very well answer 
for both. Indeed, both these birds are often seen in the same 
flock. Larks and the ubiquitous sparrows, too, intermingle with 
them with the familiarity that only the starvation rations of mid- 
winter, and not true sociability, can effect ; and, looking out upon 
such a heterogeneous flock of brown birds as they are feeding 
together on the frozen ground, only the trained field ornithologist 
would find it easy to point out the painted longspurs. 
Certain peculiarities are noticeable, however. Longspurs 
squat while resting ; then, when flushed, they run quickly and 
lightly, and “rise with a sharp click, repeated several times in 
quick succession, and move with an easy, undulating motion for 
a short distance, when they alight very suddenly, seeming to fall 
perpendicularly several feet to the ground.” Another peculiarity 
of their flight is their habit of flying about in circles, to and fro, 
keeping up a constant chirping or call. It is only in the mating 
season, when we rarely hear them, that the longspurs have the 
angelic manner of singing as they fly, like the skylark. The 
colors of the males, among the several longspurs, may differ 
widely, but the indistinctly marked females are so like each other 
that only their mates, perhaps, could tell them apart. 
Lapland Long-spur 
(Calcarius lapponicus) Finch family 
Called also: LAPLAND SNOWBIRD; LAPLAND LARK 
BUNTING 
Length — 6. 5 to 7 inches. A trifle larger than the English sparrow. 
Male — Color varies with season. Winter plumage : Top of head 
black, with rusty markings, all feathers being tipped with 
white. Behind and below the eye rusty black. Breast and 
underneath grayish white, faintly streaked with black. Above, 
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