Vol. XI1 1 WiDMANN, A Wi?iier Robin Roost in Missouri. h 



1S95 J ' 



is also greatly differing and some have even a pronounced 

 maxillary line, enclosing a white chin and running down to a black 

 patch in the middle of the breast. Some appear to be really 

 blue above, others decidedly greenish. Their note is a short 

 tsit-tsilit and the flight at first a fitful jumping from one side to 

 the other, then undulatory like a Goldfinch's, changing at last 

 to a more protracted rise and fall not unlike a Horned Lark's. 



But Anthus is not the only inhabitant of the lonely marsh. 

 Sometimes when a flock goes up we hear besides the well-known 

 tsit-tsilit another note of abrupt sharpness, which can hardly 

 belong to the gentle Pipit. It must come from a wilder bird, who 

 only frequents the same feeding ground and goes up when they 

 go. It is no less a personage than Smith's Longspur, Cakarius 

 pictiis, and if we go carefully over the ground we shall soon make 

 its acquaintance. It needs care, because, when alone by them- 

 selves, they do not go up as readily as Anthus. We may walk 

 right among them and they will not fly up ; they only run with 

 lowered head a few yards away from us and squat until we have 

 passed. They use any depression to hide in, and on the low 

 grounds they have not to run far, since nearly every square yard 

 has its crawfish hill. 



Upon the slightest indication of their presence we stop and 

 look about us, scrutinizing every foot of ground. Before long, 

 we may see one, two, three or more around us, some with con- 

 spicuous white shoulders, light gray and dark, black-striped head 

 and yellowish napes ; others without the white on the shoulders, 

 comparatively plain birds, females. There is an obvious simi- 

 larity of the under parts with that of the Titlark. 



'i'hey give us plenty of time to look at every one, but as soon as 

 one goes up with its sharp alarm-note, immediately birds are seen 

 to rise from twenty different points around us, go straight and in 

 spirals up above us, all showing in a striking manner the white 

 patches on the under wing-coverts and the white outer tail-feathers ; 

 emitting their wild click, they hover right above our heads, go 

 higher and higher until they gain an altitude, where even the 

 best field-glass can reach them no more. Though they go high, 

 they do not go far and after a little manoeuvring may come down 

 again and settle within half a mile of the spot from where they 

 rose. 



