AMERICAN PIPIT 27 



under the overhanging edge of a moss-covered hummock; it was a 

 larger nest than the other and was made of fine twigs and coarse grasses 

 and lined with finer grass ; the four eggs that it contained were nearly 

 ready to hatch. 



There is little to be said about the nests in other localities, except 

 that they are always placed on the ground in decidedly open situations, 

 but they are almost always more or less sheltered under some outcrop- 

 ping rock or projecting stones, or under the overhang of some eminence. 

 Some dried moss may be placed in the hollow to protect the eggs 

 against the moisture from the ground, but the nests seem to be made 

 almost entirely of dried grasses and to have no other warm lining. 

 A nest mentioned in some notes sent to me by O. J. INIurie was "placed 

 in the moss at the edge of a rock, back under a willow root." 



Of two nests observed by Gayle Pickwell (1947), "one w^as in a 

 clump of yellow heather and another beneath the leaves of a purple 

 aster." 



Eggs. — The American pipit lays four to seven eggs; four and five 

 seem to be the commonest numbers. They are ovate and have very 

 little gloss. The ground color is grayish white or dull white, some- 

 times buffy W'hite, but it is often so thickly covered with the markings 

 that it is hardly visible and the egg appears to be of a dark chocolate 

 color, indistinctly marked with small black lines. In the less heavily 

 marked eggs the spots are more distinct and are in various shades of 

 bright or dull browns, from chocolate to hair brown, or in some shades 

 of drab or gray. Sometimes these markings are concentrated into solid 

 color at the larger end. The measurements of 50 eggs in the United 

 States National Museum average 19.9 by 14.7 millimeters; the eggs 

 showing the four extremes measure 21.8 by 15.5, 17.8 by 14.2, and 19.8 

 by 13.7 millimeters. 



Young. — The period of incubation does not seem to have been defi- 

 nitely determined, but it probably does not differ materially from that 

 of closely related European species, 13 or 14 days. According to the 

 observations of Hazel S. Johnson (1933), at Wolf Bay, Labrador, the 

 young leave the nest about 13 days after hatching. The brooding is 

 done entirely by the female, but both sexes assist in feeding the young. 

 "While in the nest the young were fed at quite regular intervals 

 throughout the long July days. My notes show that they were fed as 

 early as 4: 30 a. m. (I believe that feeding started even earlier) and 

 continued as late as 8: 55 p. m. Eain and fog did not seem to retard 

 feeding activities of the parent birds." Her table indicates that the 

 interval between feedings varied from 5 to 19 minutes; the number of 

 feedings for a 2-hour period varied from 5 to 19 ; both of these periods 

 were late in the day. She continues : 



As the female spent the greater part of her time on the nest, the male brought 

 most of the food during the first six days. Flies and small larvae were the main 



