[ 484 ] BIRDSOFOREGON 



Pipits: family IMLotacillidae 



American Pipit: 



Anthus spinoletta rubescens (Tunstall) 



DESCRIPTION. "Hind claw about equal to toe. Adults in summer: upper parts gray- 

 ish brown, indistinctly streaked; wing blackish brown, with two buffy wing bars 

 and light edgings; tail blackish, inner web of outside feather largely white, second 

 feather tipped with white; superciliary stripe and under parts light buffy, chin 

 lighter, chest streaked with dusky. Adults in winter: browner above, lighter below, 

 streaks on breast usually broader. Young: similar, but washed with brown, and 

 more distinctly streaked. Length: 6-7, wing 3.10-3.50, tail i. 65-1. 85." (Bailey) 

 Nest: On ground, bulky, compact, made of moss and grass, lined with hair and 

 feathers. Eggs: 4 to 6, nearly uniform brown from heavy spotting (Plate 81, B). 

 DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in Arctic Zone, south in mountains to Oregon, 

 Colorado, and New Mexico. Winters from Oregon and Ohio Valley south to Central 

 America. In Oregon: Common migrant throughout State. Regular winter resident 

 of western Oregon and lower valleys of eastern Oregon. Breeds regularly on higher 

 peaks of Wallowa Mountains and perhaps rarely in Cascades and Steens Mountains. 



BENDIRE (1877) found the American Pipit to be an abundant migrant at 

 Malheur Lake, and since his time many others have noted it from differ- 

 ent parts of Oregon. During migration it is widely distributed and can 

 be looked for in every part of the State. At times during such movements 

 it is one of the most abundant birds along the beaches and tidelands of 

 the coast, in the pasture lands of the Willamette Valley, and in the great 

 valleys of eastern Oregon. In the Klamath Basin and the Harney Valley, 

 particularly, it sometimes appears in almost incredible numbers, and the 

 same thing is true to a lesser extent in other localities. It arrives from 

 the north in September (earliest date, September 10, Klamath County), 

 and in late October the numbers commence to diminish, but the species 

 winters regularly along the Columbia River between Portland and Astoria 

 and in the Rogue, Umpqua, and Willamette Valleys. It is a common 

 winter resident of the tidelands along the coast, also, from Clatsop 

 County to Curry County and winters more or less commonly along the 

 Malheur and Snake Rivers in eastern Oregon. It remains until April 

 (latest date, April 30, Deschutes County). 



V. Bailey and Young (ms. notes, Biological Survey) reported it com- 

 mon between August 2.4 and September 17, 1897, in the Wallowa Moun- 

 tains and collected specimens during that time. Bailey found it, July 31, 

 1916, on the top of Steens Mountains and suggested that it probably bred. 

 We have no other records for the Steens Mountains but have found it 

 regularly during summer in the Wallowas. On July 2.3, 192.3, Jewett 

 collected an adult female at Aneroid Lake, and between July xo and 2.2., 

 19x4, he took numerous skins of adults and fledgling young and one nest 

 in the same locality. The nest, containing four eggs, was found near the 

 margin of a small lake at an altitude of about 8,000 feet. It was built of 



