The short-eared owl and especially the pigeon hawk consistently preyed on longspurs.
Only one longspur (an adult female No. 30854) in 75 specimens examined had the bone of the skull damaged by parasites.
Adult males are larger than adult females (July). In the breeding season adult females average 3 grams lighter than males. In the latter part of summer, however, females "catch up" in weight with the males. As early as the middle of July, juveniles are nearly as large as adults in cranial measurements. The increase in weight in juveniles was from 21.5(18-25) in ten juvenal males shot in the period July 12-16, at Kaolak River to 25.2(22-27) grams in nine juvenal males shot in the period July 29-August 2 at Teshekpuk Lake.
The testes of adults gradually decrease in size from July to August; their average length was 7.7(4.0-12.0) mm in nine adult males shot in the period July 6-10 at Topagaruk but only 2.2(1.5-3.0) in six adult males shot in the period July 12-26, at Kaolak and Kaolak River. By August 1, at Teshekpuk Lake the testes of nine adult males averaged 1.4(1.0-1.5) in total length, which is only slightly larger than the average size of the testes 1.2(1.0-2.0) of nine juveniles shot in the period July 29-Aug. 2, at Teshekpuk Lake.
+Calcarius pictus+ (Swainson): Smith's longspur.--Specimens, 2: Wahoo Lake, 146°58', 69°08', 2350 ft., No. 31353, ad. male, July 9 and No. 31354, ad. female, July 7, 1952.
On July 7, 1952, at Wahoo Lake, a single longspur was trapped in one of 200 traps set for small mammals. On July 9, a line of 120 traps set in a community of cotton-grass, other sedges, grasses and dwarf willow also yielded one longspur--an adult male 172 mm long that weighed 28 grams. Smith's longspurs were uncommon at Wahoo Lake from July 3 to July 11, and when seen were associated with open tundra supporting cotton-grass, generally on flat areas adjacent to the lake. Singing from the air was heard on several occasions. On the alluvial outwash, between Lake Peters and Lake Schrader, two Smith's longspurs were recorded on July 24, 1952, and flocks of 11-16-18-20 were seen there in the damp meadows on August 13, 1952. Those seen on the latter date had moved into the area since July 23, when we first arrived.