760 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
From the high tules on the edge of La Jara Lake, a specimen was 
taken September 19, in fresh fall plumage, its stomach filled with 
small black insects apparently found at the edge of the water—insects 
also eaten by a neighboring Marsh Wren. 
In the Manzano Mountains in the late fall Mr. Gaut found it very 
rare, but a few were seen in dense brushy canyons. 
McCOWN LONGSPUR: Rhync6phanes mccowni (Lawrence) 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 5.3-5.7 inches, wing 3.5-3.7, tail 1.9-2.2, 
bill .4-.5. Female: Length (skins) 5-5.4 inches, wing 3.1-3.4, tail 1.8-2, bill .4-.5. 
Similar to Calcarius but bill turgid, very stout; hind toe and claw less developed. 
Adult male in summer: Crown jet black bordered by white superciliary, back and 
scapulars brown, broadly streaked with dusky, 
rump and long-pointed upper tail coverts 
grayer, less distinctly streaked, middle tail 
feathers dusky, edged with lighter; rest of 
tail feathers white, broadly tipped with dusky 
(outer pair sometimes wholly white); wing with 
light edgings, and chestnut patch on coverts; 
chest with crescentic black patch , rest of under par Is white, deep gray beneath the surface; 
bill brownish, dusky at tip. Adult male in winter: Black areas partly concealed by 
broad tips to feathers, brown on head, buffy on chest. Adult female: Upperparts 
light buffy brown streaked with blackish, wings dusky with buffy brown wing bar 
and edgings; tail as in adult male; underparts buffy becoming white on belly. Young 
in Juvenal plumage: Head and hind neck streaked, rest of upperparts dusky, with pale 
buffy margins to feathers giving ringed effect; chest streaked with dusky. Young 
in first winter plumage: Black of crown and breast marked by brown and grayish 
tips to feathers. 
Remarks. —In flight the blackish markings on the spread tail, from behind sug¬ 
gest, as Mr. Fuertes said, an inverted T. 
Range. —Breeds mainly in Transition Zone of Great Plains region, from central 
Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and eastern Montana south to southwestern 
Minnesota and northeastern Colorado; winters from eastern Colorado and Kansas 
south through Texas and Arizona to Durango and northern Sonora. Recorded 
from British Columbia, Manitoba, Idaho, and Illinois. 
State Records. —The McCown Longspur is a common winter resident of the 
plains of southern and eastern New Mexico. A few were noted at the Mescalero 
Indian Agency as early as September 12, 1902 (Hollister), and the species becomes 
common in October; in Union County it was abundant at Clayton, October 22 and 
23, and Clapham, October 30, 1893 (Seton); it was found at Fort Bayard, October 
22, 1873 (Henshaw); Fort Thorne, October 10 (Henry); Apache, October (Anthony). 
In winter it was taken in the Organ Mountains, January 30, 1903 (Gaut), at 
Albuquerque, January 17, 1900 (Birtwell), and at Silver City, January 26, 1884 
(Marsh). 
On the return in spring it was noted at Fort Union, 6,700 feet, March 22, 1892 
(Coale), and remained at Fort Thorn until late in April (Henry).—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —On the ground in open places; made largely of dried grasses, lined gen¬ 
erally with hair and feathers. Eggs: Usually 4, green or white, spotted with blackish 
or shades of brown; or white, unmarked. 
Food. —Largely weed seeds, and insects, including weevils and grasshoppers. 
Fig. 135. McCown Longspur, 
skin 
