AMERICAN PIPIT. 293 



mellow notes, and then suddenly settles down near the nest or 

 on some projecting rock. They leave Labrador and New- 

 foundland as soon as the young are able to fly, or about the 

 middle of August. According to their well-known habits, they 

 frequent open flats, commons, and ploughed fields, Hke a 

 Lark, running rapidly along the ground, taking by surprise their 

 insect prey of flies, midges, and other kinds, and when rest- 

 ing for an instant, keeping the tail vibrating in the manner of 

 the European Wagtail. They also frequent the river shores, 

 particularly where gravelly, in quest of minute shell-fish, as 

 well as aquatic insects and their larvae. At this time they 

 utter only a feeble note or call, like tweet tweet, with the final 

 tone often plaintively prolonged ; and when in flocks, wheel 

 about and fly pretty high, and to a considerable distance before 

 they ahght. Sometimes famihes of these birds continue all 

 winter in the Middle States, if the season prove moderate. In 

 the Southern States, particularly North and South Carolina, 

 they appear in great flocks in the depth of winter. On the 

 shores of the Santee, in January, I observed them gleaning 

 their food familiarly amidst the Vultures, drawn by the rubbish 

 of the city conveyed to this quarter. They likewise frequent 

 the cornfields and rice-grounds for the same purpose. They 

 emigrate to the Bermudas, Cuba, and Jamaica, and penetrate 

 in the course of the winter even to Mexico, Guiana, and 

 Brazil. They also inhabit the plains of the Oregon. They 

 are again seen on their return to the North, in Pennsylvania, 

 about the beginning of May or close of April. 



The Titlark is distributed over North America at large, breed- 

 ing in subarctic regions and wintering in the Gulf States and 

 Central America. During the autumn migrations it is abundant 

 on the moorlands along the coasts of New England and the 

 Maritime Provinces. 



Note. — Two European congeners of the Titlark, the White 

 Wagtail {Motacilla alba) and the Meadow Pipit {Anthus pra- 

 tensis) have been captured in Greenland, but should be considered 

 merely as " accidentals " in that region. 



Sprague's Pipit {Anthus spragueii)^ a bird of the western 

 plains, has been taken near Charleston, S. C. 



