Evening star., 1948-05-15
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Tr1ceWeH
"OKLAHOMA CITY, Okl


Dear Sir:
"This evening while was in an old aban-
doned golf course noticed bird that at first
I thought was horned lark. 1t was slightly
smaller than an English sparrow and couldn't
see any horns or yellow feathers. 1t had light
broWnish feathers with black bib, mustache,
and some black and little bit Of white on it's
head and light colored neck. 1t hoped
around and let me get about Is feet from it.
1t finally hoped over to a little clump OF grass
and then saw its nest. 1t was about the size
of small teacup and was set below the
ground There were four light-colored eggs
with blackish brown splotches. The nearest
to it could find in my bird book was the
horned lark, the lark sparrow, or McCown's
longspur. I have never seen one like it, or
knew they were In Oklahoma. like your
column very much. My aunt, who lives IN
Washington, sends it to me.
Yours sincerely, G. L. j."
This bird probably was McCown's longspur
We do not think it was horned lark be-
cause that bird breeds In northwestern British
America, east of Hudson Bay, Newfoundland
Labrador and the head of James Bay north
ward It migrates in winter to Manitoba and
the Mississippi valley, chiefly the eastern
portion.
The horns of the horned lark are erectile
feathers The length of the bird ~ inches,
which is larger than a sparrow.
The front of the head and stripes over
the eye are pale yellow.
The lark sparrow, 61a inches long, does not
have a bib, just dark spot on its chest with
considerable buff color on crown and on sides
and hanks.
Both the horned lark and lark sparrow
nest on the ground.
The lark sparrow breeds in the Mississippi
Valley east of the Great Plains, north to
Eastern Minnesota, wisconsin and southern
Michigan, east to Ohio Kentucky, Tennessee,
occasionally farther east.
So generally speaking, it wouldn't be likely
to breed in Oklahoma
X
McCowns longspur, on the other wing, nus
the description given. 1t has Dlack DID,
mustache black and white on head, brown
back length inches.
This longspur breeds mainly in Alberta,
nesota.
1t was named after, Capt. John P. McCown,
who discovered it in Western Texas about 1851.
So the locality is OK.
The female is a browniSh, sparrowy bird.
The Question, of course, is whether the male
incubates the eggs. This We do not. know.
The longspur is a ground hester, the eggs
thickly spotted with umber-brown on dull
white ground
Our correspondent-who is IL years old
will find, as he continues his study Of birdlife,
that several bird books are much better than
one.
No matter how good or complete book,
it often fails to show, either by text picture,
the very thing the reader wants to know.
This is a natural defect such books share
with all other works of information. 1t is
true of dictionaries, encyclopedias, in fact all
reference works.
This comes about because no one person,
or group 6f persons, can know everything
Especially they cannot know in advance just
precisely the points the seeker will have in
mind.
So three or more bird books, rather than
just one. will be found very helpful. Each
one will have a different painting of a bird
each one will be more true to life in some
one or two features, perhaps.
Each reader. in his turn, will hnds that he Is
able to handle" one work better than another.
He also will discover that the other books
supplement the 1avorite nicely.