AMERICAN PIPIT 33 



this species singing while in flight. The song is simple, but pleasant 

 and attractive. It sounds like ke-tsee^ he-tsee^ ke-tsee^ ke-tsee^ ke-tsee^ 

 tr-r-r-r-r-r-r, ke-tsce^ ke-tsee^ ke-tsee^ tr-r-r-r-r-r-r^ ke-tsee^ etc., and 

 is apparently of indefinite duration. Sometimes the little trills are 

 introduced into it frequently, at other times sparingly. The song is 

 not thin, like that of the black and white warbler, but pretty and 

 tinkling, though rather weak." 



The song-flight has been described under courtship, and the fiight- 

 sonff, as heard on the breeding grounds, is described in the following 

 notes from O. J. Murie : "The pipits were generally shy. When I ap- 

 proached one he would fly off with a sharp tsee-seep, tsee-seep, tsee-see- 

 seep, then the impulse to sing would come over him and he would 

 flutter his wings and go through his performance. The song was 



usually a repetition of syllables, see-see-see-see-see , a peculiar 



resonant kr accompanying and barely preceding each see, a quality 

 impossible to describe adequately. This appeared to be the commonest 

 form of the song. Sometimes it was varied, the notes being almost 2- 



syllabled, as tsr-ee, tsr-ee, tsr-ee, tsr-ee , and again sounding like 



ter-ee-a, ter-ee-a, ter-ee-a . Often it was a quite different form, 



a clear gliding swit-smlt-swit-swit , or a little more prolonged 



swee-swee-swee-sioee . Frequently a bird would break off 



on one form of the song and finish on another. The song was usually 

 given on the wing, soaring upward to a height of about a himdred feet, 

 then fluttering downward, finally sailing down to a rock with wings 

 set and raised, and tail elevated. All this time the bird would sing his 

 repetition of the same note, sometimes keeping it up after alighting." 



The note that we hear on the fall migration, or in winter, is very 

 short and simple, suggesting the name pipit. F. H. Allen (MS.) 

 says of the flock he was watching : "The birds got up a few at a time 

 generally, uttering as they arose a musical ivit-wit, or wit-wU-ioit-wit, 

 with the accent, I should say, on the last syllable. Wlien they were 

 well a-wing, their note was a single, short j^root, very pleasing to the 

 ear." 



Mr. Cogswell contributes the following comparison of the notes 

 of two species that are found along our shores and are likely to be 

 confused: "The usual flight call note of the pipit is distinctive of 

 this species, and helpful in separating a distant flying flock from 

 horned larks inhabiting similar areas and with somewhat similar 



calls. The pipit's note is a sharp tsip tsip, tspi-it, or just tsip — 



tsip-it; the lark's is lower in pitch and much more rolling, not given 

 so sharply — thus, sleek, slik-seeezik, or slik-sleesik, or just a sleek, 

 sslik, slik." 



Field marks. — The American pipit is a plainly colored, gray and 

 brownish bird with no conspicuous markings, except the white outer 

 tail feathers; and even these are not distinctive, for several other 



