286 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSEBES — OSCINES. 



89. A. ludovicia'nus. (Lat. of Louisiana ; Ludovieus, Louis. Fig. 159.) Louisiana Pipit. 

 American Titlark. Brown Lark. Wagtail. Upper parts dark brown with an olive 



shade, most of the feathers with dusky centres, giving an obscure 

 streaky or nebulous appearance; eyelids, superciliary line, and all 

 under parts brownish-white, or pale buflfy or ochrey brown, very 

 variable in shade from muddy white to rich buff, the breast and sides 

 of the body and neck thickly streaked with dusky; wings and tail 

 blackish, the inner secondaries pale-edged, and 1-3 outer tail-feathers 

 white wholly or in part. Bill blackish, pale at base below; feet brown. 

 Length 6.25-6.75, sometimes 7.00; extent 10.25-11.00; wing 3.25- 

 3.50; tail 2.75-3.00; biU 0.50 ; tarsus 0.90. N. Am., everywhere; 

 an abundant and well-known bird of fields and plains ; migratory ; in 

 Fig. 159. -Titlark, nat. the U.S. seen chiefly in flocks in fall, winter, and early spring; 

 size. (Aduat. del. E.G.) breeds in high latitudes, and in the Rocky Mts. above timber line 

 as far south as Colorado; lays 4-6 very dark-colored eggs, 0.80 x 0.60, in a mossy or grassy 

 nest on the ground; voice querulous, gait tremulous, flight vacillating. 

 32. NEO'COKYS. (Gr. veos, neos, new; Kopvs, Icorus, a helmet, and hence applied to a kind of 

 crested lark.) Sky Pipits. Characters of Anthus, from which little distinguished by the 

 shorter and more nearly even tail and larger feet, which when outstretched reach beyond the 

 end of the tail ; tarsus shorter than hind toe and claw. Colors clearer and markings more dis- 

 tinct than in Anthus ludovicianus ; more as in some European species of Anthus. 



90. N. spra'guii. (To Isaac Sprague, of Mass.) Sprague's Pipit. Missouri Titlark. 

 Above, variegated with numerous streaks of dark brown and gray, in largest pattern on the 

 back, smallest on the nape, the gray constituting the edging of the feathers. Below, dull whit- 

 ish, more or less brownish -shaded across the breast and along the sides ; the breast sharply 

 streaked, the sides less distinctly so, with dusky ; a more or less evident series of maxillary 

 spots. Quills dark grayish-brown; the inner ones, and the wing-coverts, edged with grayish- 

 white, corresponding to the pattern of the back. Middle tail-feathers like the back; next ones 

 blackish-brown, the two outer pair wholly or mostly pure white, the 3d pair from the outside 

 usually touched with white near the end. With reduction of the gray edgings of the feathers 

 of the upper parts by wearing away in summer, the bird becomes darker above, with narrower 

 and sharper variegation, and the pectoral streaks are fainter. Bill blackish above; below, 

 like the feet, pale flesh-color; iris blaek. After the fall moult the colors again become pure; 

 the streaking of the upper parts is strong and sharp, and the under parts acquire a ruddy -brown 

 shade. Young : Edgings of the feathers of the upper parts huffy, giving a rich complexion to 

 the plumage ; feathers of back with pure white edging, forming conspicuous semicircular mark- 

 ings ; greater wing-coverts and long inner secondaries broadly tipped with white, and prima- 

 ries broadly edged and tipped with white or buff. Ear-coverts bufly-brown, forming a more 

 conspicuous patch than in the adult. Under parts strongly tinged, except on throat and middle 

 of belly, with huffy-brown, the pectoral and lateral streaks large and diffused. Sexes indistin- 

 guishable ; 9 rather smaller than <J. Length 6.25-6.75, rarely 7.00; extent 10.00-11.00, 

 generally about 10.50, rarely 11.50; wing 3.00-3.30; tail 2.25-2.40; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.80- 

 0.90; middle toe and claw 0.90; hind toe and claw nearly 1.00, the claw alone about 0.50. 

 Central portions of the U. S., and adjoining British Provinces, from the eastern edge of the 

 liigh central plains to the Rocky Mts., from the valleys of the Red River of the North and 

 of the Saskatchewan to Texas ; breeding in profusion in Dakota and Montana ; nest on the 

 ground, of fine dried grasses, sometimes arched over; eggs 4-5, 0.90 X 0.60, grayish-white 

 minutely flecked with darker, giving a purplish cast. General habits and manners of titlarks; 

 but soaring flight when singing, and the song itself, having all the qualities which have madi? 

 the European skylark famous, and being no less worthy of celebration in poetry. 



