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Breeding Range. (Fig. 184). Fairly common in the eastern half of Divide County, particularly in the vicinity of Crosby (within a radius of 8 miles); fairly common locally in western Burke County, Williams County, central McKenzie County, and in southwestern and eastern Bowman County; uncommon in northwestern Ward County, eastern Burke County, Billings County, eastern Slope County, and western Hettinger County; rare and local elsewhere--on July 9, 1963, a male in breeding plumage was recorded in McLean County, about 6 miles east of Washburn (Grant 1963a).

Prior to 1905, the North Dakota breeding populations were much greater and more widely distributed than at the present time. Records by pioneering ornithologists indicate that the McCown's Longspur was quite common and widely distributed over the western half of the state and throughout the northeastern quarter as well. Apparently, it was either rare or absent in the southeastern quarter of the state.

In northeastern North Dakota, early records indicating breeding were reported for the Grand Forks area and in Ramsey County (Currie 1892). P. B. Peabody recorded this species as probably breeding in the vicinity of Pembina during June 1898 (Roberts 1932). According to Judd (1917), the McCown's Longspur could be considered as a "tolerably common summer resident" in the Cando area of Towner County during the period 1890-1896. In 1901, Bent (1901a) described its status as being "fairly common locally" in the Devils Lake area, along the Sheyenne River to the south [apparently along the stretch in Eddy County] and through Nelson and Steele Counties.

In western North Dakota, Allen (1874) reported this species to be common near Fort Rice during the third week of June 1873, and it was abundant near Big Muddy Creek [in Morton County below Almont] during June 28-July 1, 1873. He found it in considerable abundance along the expedition route from Fort Rice west to the Yellowstone River, "but hardly so numerous nor so uniformly distributed as the Chestnut-collared Longspur." According to Allen's report, sometimes very few individuals were seen for 20 or 30 miles, and then again the local populations outnumbered any other species over a considerable area. He states further that both this species and the Chestnut-collared Longspur seemed to locate more or less in colonies, being here and there very numerous and then almost entirely absent for miles. During early July 1874, Grinnell (1875) recorded McCown's Longspur about 35 miles southwest of Fort Lincoln near Dog-tooth Creek [in Grant County]. He considered the species to be rather abundant in this area, although less so than the Chestnut-collared Longspur.

It has been well documented that a drastic reduction in populations and marked constrictions of breeding range took place throughout the greater part of North Dakota during the period, 1905-1930. In the Cando area of Towner County, this species became increasingly uncommon as the settlers moved in until 1910 when it was rarely seen (Judd 1917). Further west at Westhope in Bottineau County it was reported to be frequent as late as 1910 (R. P. Currie), and in McLean County, several were seen near the towns of Coleharbor and Max during May 1918 (W. P. Taylor). During June 1920 in the Big Coulee area of southwestern Benson County, "fewer were observed than ever before" (Peabody 1920). In Ward County in the vicinity of Donnybrook, the species was reported to be numerous as late as 1923 (Peters 1923), and near Minot, a few pairs were still nesting during the period, 1933-1945 (Stine 1945).

It is also apparent that former populations within the present range of the species were noticeably greater and more generally distributed. In 1913, it was common near Sentinel Butte in Golden Valley County during June 5-10, and during August 2-4, hundreds were recorded along roads between Sentinel Butte and the ponderosa pine forest in north-central Slope County (S. G. Jewett). In the vicinity of Crosby, this species was reported as "equally abundant with Chestnut-collared Longspurs" during July 7-10, 1913; and near Kenmare during July 11-20, 1913, the McCown's Longspur was considered to be common in many places over the prairie and breeding, although less numerous and generally distributed than the Chestnut-collared Longspur (V. Bailey). Gabrielson (1928) recorded the species during the summer of 1918 on the Little Missouri badlands in northern Dunn County, and Larson (1928) found it to be of regular occurrence in northeastern McKenzie County during the period 1912-1926. A definite decline had taken place by 1934 when "not more than 15 breeding McCown's Longspurs were recorded" during an extensive field trip involving hundreds of miles through Grant, Adams, Hettinger, Slope, and Bowman Counties (Youngworth 1935a).

Breeding Habitat. Short-grass prairie and heavily grazed, xeric types of mixed-grass prairie were extensively occupied by this species during the early pioneering days (until about 1905). These communities are characteristic of the semi-arid plains in western North Dakota and also occur locally in areas of droughty soils and on dry, rounded tops of morainic hills in the northeast. Later, coincident with the extensive development of prairie lands for agricultural purposes, the use of these natural habitats by this species gradually decreased, and at present even the remaining tracts of prairie have been largely abandoned.

During recent years, only one tract of native prairie was found to be occupied regularly. This tract, representative of short-grass prairie, covers several hundred acres, and is located in southwestern Bowman County, about 19 miles southwest of Rhame. From 12 to 20 pairs of McCown's Longspurs were recorded here during the breeding season in 1965, 1970, 1973, and 1974 (RES). The predominant plant species are blue grama, threadleaf sedge, and spikemoss. Secondary species that are associated with them include needle-and-thread, needleleaf sedge, death camas, sand lily, white onion, purple loco, prickly pear cactus, silverleaf, slender beardstongue, and buffalo-bean.

It is singular that this species has become adapted locally to use of certain types of agricultural croplands during the breeding season. Apparently, these disturbance habitats, particularly those that are located at relatively high elevations, are greatly preferred over the types of short-grass and mixed-grass prairie that were used so extensively in the past. In a few areas small-grain stubble fields (wheat, barley, oats, etc.) are especially attractive as breeding habitats, and, occasionally, considerable numbers are found on newly cultivated or summer fallow fields and on fields with developing sprout growth of small grain. Use of croplands as breeding habitats was first noted during 1890-1896 in Towner County (Judd 1917) and in 1913 in Golden Valley County (S. G. Jewett).

Nesting. Breeding season: Mid-May to early August; peak, late May to mid-July. Extreme egg dates (17 nests): May 17 to July 22 (Krause 1968). In Bowman County, broods of stub-tailed young out of the nest were recorded as early as June 5 in 1973 (M. L. Avery, RES), and June 11 in 1965 (RES).

Nests are situated within small depressions on the ground under a rather sparse growth of herbaceous plants. A nest with four eggs was recorded in Morton County on July 7, 1873 (Coues 1874). Recent records of nests in Bowman County include one with four eggs and one with two eggs on May 25, 1970 (P. F. Springer, RES), and one with four half-grown young on June 5, 1973 (M. L. Avery, RES).

Figure 184. Breeding Range of McCown's Longspur.