Pipit WESTERN BIRDS 



GENUS ANTHUS : PIPIT. 



Pipit: Anthus rubescens. 

 FAMILY— MOTACILLIDiE: WAGTAILS. 



In the American Pipit we have an interesting bird 

 which breeds in the United States only on the high 

 mountains south to California, Colorado, and New 

 Mexico; wintering from southern California and the 

 Ohio and lower Delaware Valleys to the Gulf States. 



The adults in winter plumage, which is the one usually 

 seen, are a rich brown above, with a white line over the 

 eye; the outer tail feathers white and the next one or 

 two white-tipped. The upper part of wing has the 

 feathers white, or buffy, tipped; and the under parts 

 are buffy thickly streaked with brown. The length is 

 about seven inches. 



The Pipits, or Titlarks, as they are sometimes called, 

 usually go about in loose flocks which scatter over 

 plowed fields, meadows, pastures, or strip of beach as 

 the case may be, but when alarmed fly away together, 

 giving their shrill pip-pip, pip-pip call and often return- 

 ing to their foraging ground. 



Their way of walking rapidly about and their restless 

 way of jerking the tail makes them easy to identify. In 

 migrations they fly high in a slightly undulating flight, 

 the shrill call note proclaiming their presence when they 

 are not plainly visible. 



During the nesting season the male Pipit has a flight 

 song which is given both as the bird mounts as much 



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