THE AMERICAN PIPIT. 



223 



direct. But here there is suspicion of desuhory wintering on the one hand 

 (I have a record of forty birds seen on the Nisqnally Flats, Feb. 10, 1906; 

 and Fannin says they sometimes winter on Yancou\'er Island ) and there is 

 always a small percentage of loiterers who linger into May. Spring flocks 

 nia\' be l(.>oked for in freshly-i)lowed iields, where they feed attenti\'elv, often 

 in absolute silence, mo\-ing about with ■'graceful, gliding walk, tilting the body 

 and wagging the tail at each 

 step, much in the manner of 

 a Sciiiriis.' 



Pipits are boreal breeders ; 

 lint inasmuch as our own 

 superb Alps claim kinship 

 with the Arctic, there is no 

 more fa\'orable spot to study 

 the nesting of the Pipits 

 than upon the Cascades of 

 northern Washington. At 

 home the Pipit is a ver\' 

 different creature from the 



straggler of the long trail 

 On his native heather, sui- 

 rounded by d\varfed lir 

 trees, melting snow-fields. 

 and splendid vistas of peak 

 and cloud, he knows exactly 

 what he wants and is quiu 

 capable of flying in :i 

 straight line. 



All is bustle and stir 

 along Ptarmigan Ridge,— 

 the transverse rock-rib ni 

 Cascade Pass which divides 

 the waters of Stehekin. 

 Chelan, and the Columbia 

 from those of the Cascade, 

 Skagit, and Puget Sound. 



The season is late, June 23, IQ06, and the snows have only just released the 

 ridge at 6000 feet elevatii:)n. Slate-colored Sparrows are carnlling tenderly 

 from the thickets of stunted fir. Sierra Hermit Thrushes, those minstrels 

 of heaven, flit elusively from clump to clump or pause to rehearse from their 

 depths some spiritual strain. Leucostictes look in u])iin the scene in passing, 

 but they hasten at a prudent thought to their loftier ramparts. The real 



Taken tit Shagil Lumtly. I'hotu by IV. L. Dazvson. 



OUR L.MJV OF THE SNOWS. 



A CHAR.ACTKRISTIC SUMMER HAUNT OF THE PIPIT. 



