Till-: inilDS OF XMW ,IKIJSEY. 293 



Family MOTACILLID^. 



The Wagtails. 



697 Anthus rubescens (Tunstall). 

 Titlark. Pipit. 



Adults. — Length, 6-7. Wing, 3.30. Above, grayish olive-brown ; tips of 

 wing-coverts, buff, forming two bars ; innermost wing feathers edged with the 

 same ; tail, blackish, outermost pair of feathers largely white, the next pair 

 white tipped : under surface of body, buff to pale cinnamon, usually thickly 

 spotted with brown on the breast and sides of throat and body ; plumage much 

 paler and under surface much faded in spring. 



Common transient visitant along the seacoast, but more irregular 

 inland: winter visitant in the most southern counties; March-May, 

 October-Xovember. 



Titlarks are delicate, active little birds alwaj-s found in flocks while 

 with us ; sometimes very large ones. They are further characterized 

 as birds of bare open tracts, especially of sandy or burnt fields. They 

 are, moreover, walkers, not hoppers, and are continually wagging their 

 tails. On burnt ground it is difficult to distinguish them until one is 

 nearly upon them, when they suddenly take flight, displaying for a 

 moment their white outer tail feathers, and wdth a faint "dee-dee" are 

 whirling up and up, until they drift away like wind-blown leaves. 



I have found them in very large flocks at Cape May, January 2d, 

 1892. 



Family MIMID^. 



The Mockers. 



The birds of this family are allied to both the Wrens and the 

 Thrushes. They comprise three of our best-known species famous 

 both for their song and their value as insect destroyers. 



a. Slaty-gray above and below. Catbird, p. 295 



(la. Gray above, white below. Mockixgbikd, p. 294 



aaa. Kusty brown above, streaked below. Brown Thrasher, p. 296 



