_Plectrophanes maccowni_, LAWRENCE, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, Sept. 1851,
122. Western Texas.—CASSIN, Illust. I, viii, 1855, 228, pl.
xxxix.—HEERM. X, c, p. 13.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 437.
[Line drawing: _Plectrophanes maccownii_, Lawr.
6282 ♂]
SP. CHAR. _Male in spring._ Top of head, a broad stripe each side the
throat from lower mandible, and a broad crescent on jugulum, black;
side of head including lores and band above the eye, throat, and under
parts, ashy-white; ear-coverts bordered above and behind by blackish,
running out at the maxillary stripe. Breast just behind the black
crescent and sides, showing dark bases of feathers. Upper parts ashy,
tinged with yellowish on the mandible, and streaked with dusky; least
so on nape and rump. Lesser wing-coverts ashy; median chestnut-brown,
with blackish bases sometimes evident; the quills all bordered broadly
externally with whitish, becoming more ashy on secondaries.
Tail-feathers white except at the concealed bases and the ends, which
have a transverse (not oblique) tip of blackish; the outermost white
to the end; the two central like the back. Bill dark plumbeous; legs
blackish. In winter the markings more or less obscured; the bill and
legs more yellowish.
_Female_ lacks the black markings, which, however, are indicated
obsoletely as in other _Plectrophanes_; there is no trace of chestnut
on the wings, no streaks on the breast. Length, 5.50; wing, 3.60;
tail, 2.50; bill, .46.
HAB. Eastern slopes of Rocky Mountains, from Texas to Upper Missouri.
This species varies considerably in markings, but is readily
recognized among other _Plectrophanes_ in all stages by short hind
toe, very stout bill, and the transverse dark bar at the end of all
tail-feathers except the inner and outer.
HABITS. Maccown’s Lark Bunting is yet another of the various species
of our birds whose history is very little known, and in regard to
which the most we are able to state, at present, is that they appear
in different parts of the interior plains of the United States,
between the Rocky Mountains and the Missouri River and the lower
tributaries of the Mississippi, extending from New Mexico and Texas
northward, during the breeding-season, to the northern boundary of the
United States. It was first discovered by Captain Maccown, who
obtained it in Texas, where he found it in company with a flock of
Shore Larks, and where it winters in considerable numbers. Mr. Dresser
afterward met with it in small flocks, early in April, on the prairies
near San Antonio. It was not very common, and he was only able to
obtain two specimens during his stay in that section.
Dr. Heermann found this species congregated in large flocks, in
company with the Black-shouldered Bunting. They were engaged in
gleaning the seeds from the scanty grass, on the vast arid plains of
New Mexico. Insects and berries formed also a part of their food; in
search of these they showed great activity, running about with
celerity and ease. In the spring, large flocks were seen at Fort
Thorn, having migrated thither from the North the previous fall. With
the return of mild weather they again departed for the North for the
purposes of incubation. Among these large flocks Dr. Heermann noticed
also the Shore Lark, but they formed only a small proportion of the
whole number.
In a letter to Mr. Cassin, Dr. Heermann states that he found this
species congregated with large numbers of other birds about the
isolated water-holes in the barren plains of New Mexico.
Mr. J. A. Allen states (Am. Nat., May, 1872) that, during a few weeks’
stay near Fort Hays in midwinter, he found Maccown’s Longspur
tolerably frequent in that vicinity.
An egg of this species, in the collection of the late Dr. Henry
Bryant, measures .80 by .60 of an inch. Its ground-color is a light
bluish clay-color, marbled, dotted, blotched, and lined with light
neutral tints of lavender and darker markings of purplish and reddish
brown. The nest was placed on the ground, and is composed entirely of
coarse grass-stems (No. 3,521, J. Pearsall, Fort Benton).