IX 
THE WAGTAIL FAMILY 
(Motacillide) * 
Ir does not seem very polite to call a family 
of birds wagtails, just because they have the 
habit of jerking their tails as they go about. 
But that is the name they go by in the books, 
and we have two of them in the United States. 
We call them pipits or titlarks. 
The best known is SpracuE’s Pipir, called 
the Missouri skylark, or sometimes the prairie 
skylark. This bird gets the name of skylark 
because he sings while soaring about in the air 
far over our heads. He could not sing on a 
tree if he wanted to, for he lives on the plains 
between the Mississippi River and the Rocky 
Mountains, where are few or no trees. 
The pipits live on the ground, and walk and 
run, not hop. As they go, they bob their heads, 
and jerk their tails. They are a little larger 
1 See Appendix, 7. 
