302 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



294 [697] Anthus pensilvanicus (Lath.). 

 American Pipit ; Titlark. 



Abundant transient visitor in the autumn, rare in the spring ; May 9, May 

 10, (June 8) ; September 10 to November 20 (January 4). 



My spring records of this bird are few. On May 9th, 1893, Mr. J. A. 

 Farley saw a flock at Lynnfield ; ten years later, on May 10th, 1903, I saw a 

 flock of seven in the marshes at Ipswich. On June 8th, 1878, a single bird was 

 shot by Mr. W. A. Jeffries on a small island off Swampscott. 1 The reproduc- 

 tive organs suggested breeding. Pipits are generally gone by the 7th of 

 November, but Mr. F. B. McKechnie shot one at Ipswich on November 20th, 

 1903, and on January 4th, 1878, a small flock was observed at Newburyport. 2 



From the middle of September to the end of the first week in November 

 this bird is to be found in flocks of from ten to one hundred or more among the 

 sand dunes, on the beaches, in the salt marshes, or in the open fields, generally 

 near the coast. I have seen them on the beach walking on the edges of shallow 

 pools of water, wetting their feet but not their feathers. In ploughed fields it is 

 very difficult to see them, so well do they match in color the ground. They 

 occasionally alight on sticks or old roots in the fields and dunes, and rarely in 

 trees. I have, however, seen several of a flock alight in tall trees. They walk 

 rapidly on the ground, — I have never seen them hop, — and they have a habit 

 of wagging their tails up and down, both while walking and when standing still. 

 When startled, they often fly straight up. Their flight in flocks is in loose 

 order, irregular and undulating and as fitful as that of the Snow Bunting. 



Their call notes resemble closely those of the Horned Larks but are 

 generally softer and less sibilant, — seet-see whit, — and are emitted constantly 

 while the bird is on the wing, and occasionally from the ground. It is, however, 

 necessary to study closely the notes of these two birds in order to distinguish 

 them. Their smaller size, more slender form, and larger amount of white in the 

 tail serve to distinguish them from the Horned Larks. Their habit of wagging 

 the tail is distinctive. 



1 T. M. Brewer: Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, vol. 3, p. 194, 1878. 



* T. M. Brewer: Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 19, p. 302, 1878. 



