LAPLAND LONGSPUR
Calcarius lapponicus lapponicus
A sparrow-like bird, with reddish brown wings, a black or blackish breast, white, streaked underparts and a brownish back. L. 6¼.
Range. Nests in Arctic regions, wintering southward, rarely and irregularly in the Atlantic States, to New York (casually South Carolina) and more commonly in the Mississippi Valley to Ohio and Texas.
Washington, W.V. one instance, Dec. Ossining. W.V., casual, Cambridge, one record. N. Ohio, tolerably common W.V., Nov. 15-Apl. 25. Glen Ellyn, common W.V., Oct. 16-May 16. SE. Minn., common W.V.
Lapland Longspur.
Adult male in summer. In winter the throat and breast are mixed black and white.
A rare visitor from the far North who, if we see it at all will probably be found in the company of Horned Larks or Snow Buntings. It is a browner bird than either of them, so while this is not a case of 'birds of a feather' it is a case of birds of a long hind toe-nail, since all three are distinguished by having a toe-nail actually longer than its toe. All three are walkers, which means also that they are ground-birds rather than tree-birds, and the tracks they leave in the snow, or on the beach, distinguish them from other birds if not from each other.
VESPER SPARROW
Poœcetes gramineus gramineus. [Case 4], Fig. 36; [Case 5], Fig. 16
Paler than any of our other field inhabiting Sparrows, except the Savannah, which is smaller; and differing from them all by having a reddish brown shoulder-patch and white outer tail-feathers. L. 6.
Range. Nests from North Carolina and Kentucky to Canada; winters from its southern nesting limits to the Gulf States.