26 BULLETIN 19 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Courtship. — The song flight of the pipit is the most conspicuous 

 part of the courtship performance. This is very well described by- 

 Joseph Dixon ( 1938) , who observed it on Mount McKinley, as follows : 

 "On May 20, 1926, high up among the vanishing snowfields on a 

 rocky barren ridge at 4,000 feet, we watched a male pipit in full nuptial 

 jQight. It perched on a rock, then flew almost vertically into the sky 

 for a distance of from 50 to 150 feet, singing a single note which was 

 repeated constantly. Then with legs extended, feet spread out, and 

 tail sticking upwards at a sharp angle, this male bird sang steadily 

 as he fluttered his wings and floated down like a falling leaf, usually 

 landing near the place from whence he began his flight." 



Dr. Charles W. Townsend (Townsend and Allen, 1907) observed 

 a similar flight-song in Labrador and gives the following information 

 about it: 



As he went up he sang repeatedly a simple refrain, che-ivMe, clie-wMe with 

 a vibratory resonance on the icMe. Attaining an eminence of * * * per- 

 haps 200 feet from the ground, he checked himself and at once began the 

 descent. He went down faster and faster, repeating his song at the same time 

 faster and faster. Long before he reached the ground he set his wings and 

 tipped from side to side to break his descent. After remaining quiet on the 

 ground for a few moments he repeated the performance and we watched him 

 go up four or five times. On one occasion he was twenty seconds going up, 

 emitting his refrain forty-eight times. In the descent he was quicker, accom- 

 plishing it in ten seconds and singing thirty-two bars of his song. 



Gayle Pickwell (1947) noticed, on Mount Rainier, Wash., that two 

 males in the vicinity of a female "were battling violently. One of 

 the males was on the near-by snow. The other male plunged down 

 from above with a detennination rarely to be obsei^ved in avian bat- 

 tles. * * * These pipits fought on the ground as well as in the 

 air. One stayed largely on the snow while the other dashed upon 

 him from above and there was no denying the seriousness of their 

 struggles." 



Nesting. — The two nests of the American pipit that I saw^ on the 

 coast of Labrador in 1912 were probably typical of the species, in that 

 locality at least. The first nest was shown to me on July G, in the bare, 

 rocky hills of Battle Island, by two of Dr. Grenfell's nurses. Miss 

 Coates and Miss Thompkins, whom I had met in Newfoundland. The 

 nest was very prettily located on the side of a little moss-covered ridge 

 or hummock, in a little valley near the top of the moss- and lichen- 

 covered island ; it was sunk deeply into the soft mosses that overhung 

 the entrance on the side of the little cavity ; the nest seemed to be made 

 entirely of fine, dry grasses. It contained five eggs, which I did not 

 disturb. The incubating bird was quite tame and, if quietly ap- 

 proached, could almost be touched on the nest. 



The other nest (pi. 2) was shown me by an Eskimo, on July 21, near 

 Hopedale. It was similarly located, near the top of a bare, rocky hill, 



