AMERICAN PIPIT 97 



adult plumage has black wings and tail and a black stripe 

 through the eye, while the Mockingbird has brown wings 

 and tail and a gray head. If the bill can be examined at 

 close range, the two birds can be readily distinguished ; the 

 Shrike's is like a Hawk's, thick and hooked ; the Mocking- 

 bird's is like a Catbird's, long and rather slender, with no 

 hook. (See Fig. 30.) 



TITLARKS : FAMILY MOTACILLIDwSS 



American Pipit ; Titlark. Anthus pensilvanicus 



6.38 



Ad. — Upper parts brownish-gray ; end of outer tail-feathers 

 white ) next pair tipped with white ; line over eye whitish or 

 buffy; throat white; breast streaked with black; belly white. 



The Titlark is a migrant through New England and New 

 York, rare in New England in spring, but common in the 

 fall, especially near the coast. It passes north in April and 

 May, and returns in late September, October, and early 

 November. Near the coast it frequents the short grass of the 

 tidal marshes or grassy hills, where it feeds in company with 

 Shore Larks and Snow Buntings. It often occurs in large 

 flocks, which rise when disturbed and fly off over the marsh 

 with a shrill tsee-tseep tsee-tsee-tseep, very like the call- 

 notes of the Shore Lark. Inland it is fond of ploughed 

 fields, mud-flats, or low meadows, but is also found on 

 grassy hilltops, even at great elevation. Its long tail is 

 constantly wagged as it walks ; this wagging should iden- 

 tify it at once, as the birds with which it consorts do 

 not have this trick, and the other birds that do, the water- 

 thrushes, etc., are not found in open fields. When the 

 Titlark flies, it shows two outer tail-feathers tipped with 

 white. 



