MOTACILLID.E — THE WAGTAILS. X73 



oft' to a short distance, with loud cries of distress that soon bring the mate 

 and other pairs of the same species to join in the lamentations. They hover 

 over the heads of the intruders, at times approaching within a few feet, ex- 

 pressing their distress Ijy the most plaintive cries, and even when the in- 

 truders withdraw following them to a considerable distance. 



All the nests of this lark that I have seen are remarkable for the thickness 

 of their walls, and the strength, compactness, and elaborate care with whicli 

 the materials are put together, particularly for nests built on the ground. 

 They are well suited to protect their contents from the cold, damp ground 

 on which they are placed ; and their upper portions are composed of stout 

 vegetable stems, lichens, and grasses strongly interwoven, and forming a 

 strong rim around the upper j^art of the nest. 



Dr. Coues describes their eggs as of a dark chocolate-color, indistinctly 

 marked with numerous small lines and streaks of l)lack. Audubon describes 

 them as having a ground-color of a deep reddish-chestnut, darkened by nu- 

 merous dots of deeper reddish-brown and lines of various sizes, especially 

 toward the larger end. Those in my possession, received from Labrador by 

 Thienemann, measure from .75 to .78 of an inch in length, and from .59 

 to .62 in breadth, and have a light-brown or clay-colored ground, so thickly 

 covered with spots as to be almost concealed. These spots are of a purplish 

 chocolate-brown, with occasional darker lines about the larger end. In 

 others the markings are bolder and larger and of brighter hues. Like the 

 eggs of the Anthus arboreus of Europe, it is probable that those of this 

 Titlark exhibit great variations, both in ground-color and in the shades of 

 their markings. 



Anthus pratensis, Ijechst. 



EUROPEAN PIPIT. 



Alauda pratensis, LiNN. Syst. Nat. 1766, 287. Jnthus pnitcmw, Bechst. Deutsch. Vcigel, 

 III, 1807, 732. — Keys. & Blas. Wirb. Europas, 1840, 172. — Zander, Cab. Jour. I, 

 extraheft, 1853, 60. — Paulsen, ed. Holboll, Faun. Gronlands, 1846, 24. — Keix- 

 HARUT, Ibis, 1861, 6. —Newton, Baring-Gould's Iceland, 1863. — Bausd, Rev. 

 Am. B. 1864, 155. 



Figures : Gould's Birds Europe, pi. cxxxvi. 



Hab. Europe generally ; connnoti in Lapland ; accidental in Greenland ; St. Michael's, 

 Xorton Sound. 



This species in general form resembles the A. ludoviciamis, the fifth 

 primary in both being abruptly and considerably shorter than the outer four ; 

 the bill and legs quite similar. The average size appears much the same. 

 The upper parts are, however (especially the head and back), more distinctly 

 streaked with dusky; the edge and inside of wing greenish-yellow, not 

 white, and the upper plumage and outer edges of the (pulls decidedly olive- 

 green. The shafts of the middle tail-feathers above are whitish, not dark 



