360 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



of Cambridge,! b^t since 1880 it has become a common summer resident of a 

 considerable portion of this city, while in the gardens and cultivated grounds 

 bordering on Brattle Street, between Sparks Street and Mount Auburn, it now 

 breeds almost if not quite as numerously as in the Fresh Pond Swamps, or in the 

 wilder parts of Arlington, Belmont, and Waverley. The acquisition of so bril- 

 liant and attractive a little bird during the very period when many of our 

 native species have been deserting Cambridge and its suburbs, has been not less 

 pleasing than unexpected. Apparently the change has been due largely, if not 

 wholly, to the fact that large areas of formerly open land have become densely 

 covered with planted trees in which the Redstart now finds congenial food and 

 shelter. 



225. Anthus pensilvanicus (Lath.). 

 American Piprr. Titlark. 



Transient visitor, rare in .spring, common in autumn. 

 SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



April 18, 1872, flock seen, one im. female 2 taken, Belmont, W. Brewster. 

 May 2, 1892, three seen, East Lexington, W. Faxon. 



September 11, 1875, one seen. Fresh Pond Marshes, W. Brewster. 



September 20 — November i. 

 November 24, 1889, two seen, Cambridge Region, W. Faxon. 



Titlarks visit the Cambridge Region regularly in autumn, appearing soon 

 after the middle of September and remaining through October or even a few 

 days into November. Their numbers vary with different years, but they are 

 usually common and I have known them to be abundant, especially in the marshes 

 bordering Charles River and in those near Fresh Pond. They also frequent 

 freshly ploughed fields and occasionally pastures where the land is low and damp. 

 They are seen oftenest, however, on wing, roving restlessly about over the coun- 

 try in flocks containing from half a dozen to forty or fifty birds each. While in 

 the air they may be easily recognized by the loose, straggling order in which they 

 move, by their deeply undulating flight, and by their almost incessant piping calls 

 which are not unlike those of the Horned Larks, although decidedly feebler and 



1 In Norton's Woods, however, according to Dr. Walter Woodman, three or four pairs nested 

 every season between iS66 and 1874. 



2 No. 2629, collection of William Brewster. 



