Meadowlarks, Horned Larks, Redpolls, Snowflakes, and, rarest of all, Lapland Longspurs, the first time that I had identified them here.
The Redpolls and Snowflakes were feeding under similar conditions, — the Redpolls keeping under cover of bushes and furrows, while the Snowflakes were in the open, and the hock continually arose with the drifting snow and settled again like a part of it, uttering a soft chirp as they shifted.
Lapland Longspur: Calcarius lapponicus
Length: 6.60 inches.
Male: Winter plumage, top of head black, edged with rusty, black above, the feathers all tipped with white. A rusty black patch behind and beneath the eye. Below grayish, with faint black markings. Bill yellow, tipped with black; feet and legs black. Long hind claw or spar.
Female: Rusty gray above, whitish below.
Song: A charming song in the breeding-season, uttered while soaring like the Skylark's.
Season: A winter visitor; rare locally, but common on the Massachusetts coast and also noted by Mr. Averill as associating with Shore Larks near Stratford, Conn. Breeds: In the Arctic regions, where it has a thick, fur-lined, grass nest, set in moss on the ground.
Range: Northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere; in North America, south, in winter, into the northern United States, irregularly to the Middle States, accidentally to South Carolina, and abundantly in the interior to Kansas and Colorado.
When we are fortunate enough to see the Longspur, he is wearing his winter dress, which resembles somewhat the plumage of the Titlark.
I always considered them rare birds hereabout, until I found them near the shore last February. I was first attracted by unusual claw marks in the new snow, where it was soft enough to take distinct impressions, under the south side of a rick of salt hay. The Longspur is a ground feeder like the Larks and Buntings, and the mark of the long hind claw, or spur could be seen plainly; on the opposite side of the rick were the birds themselves, seven
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