Bird- Life in Lahraboi\ 19 



AMERICAN PIPIT TITLARK 



Anf/ni.^ Itidoviciainis. — Lkht. 



It was my ^ood inrtuue, while on the Labrador coast, to 

 become pei-ha])s more intimately acquainted with this than with 

 any other land bird with which I came in contact. Though my 

 notes on this species have previously appeared in the Ameri^ 

 can Field, under date of January 7, 1882, I repeat them here, 

 although they are now the same as borrowed matter. The 

 titlark is an abundant Summer resident, and breeds all along 

 the coast of Labrador from jNIingan to Red Bay, a distance of 

 over five hundred miles, and is everywhere a familiar, well- 

 known, and pleasing songster. I first became acquainted with 

 it as an abundant, or at least more than common, resident at 

 both Old Fort and Bonne Esperance Islands. These two 

 places are not more than eight miles apart, and I then thought 

 it probable that all of the islands about that part of the coast 

 were e(|ually abundant breeding ])laces, as I have found since 

 that they are. On May 7th I started on a trip up the coast, 

 and arrived at Mingan on the 28th ; the next day I saw the 

 titlark for the first time, and afterward I found it on nearly 

 all of the islands and places visited. Being absent during the 

 egging season, I missed the eggs and nests, though I am in- 

 formed that it breeds abundantly, and the boys and people 

 along the coast everywhere recognized the bird and said the 

 same. The name by which the pipit is known in Labrador is 

 that of wagtail, the spotted sandpiper being the only other bird 

 that I have seen that dij)S its tail and is to be found here ; this 

 latter has the name of the " crooked-winged bird." I could 

 find no other bird that had a similar name of wagtail. The 

 first specimen I shot was a young bird, and, after I became 

 familiar with the species, I would often spend hours in watch- 

 ing the bird as it stood in some obscure corner of the yard 

 pluming itself and resting, or slowly walking from place to 

 place before finally taking wing. The young bird seems much 

 larger than the adult, if not by actual measurement really so. 



