THE INVITATION. 279 



woodpecker is our golden -wing, or high- 

 hole, colored red instead of yellow. There 

 is also a Western chickadee, a Western che- 

 wink, a Western blue-jay, a Western mead- 

 ow-lark, a Western snow-bird, a Western 

 bluebird, a Western song-sparrow, Western 

 grouse, quail, hen-hawk, etc., etc. 



One of the most remarkable birds of the 

 West seems to be a species of skylark, met 

 with on the plains of Dakota, which mounts 

 to the height of three or four hundred feet, 

 and showers down its ecstatic notes. It is 

 evidently akin to several of our Eastern 

 species. 



A correspondent writing to me from the 

 country one September says: "I have ob- 

 served recently a new species of bird here. 

 They alight upon the buildings and fences 

 as well as upon the ground. They are walk- 

 ers." In a few days he obtained one, and 

 sent me the skin. It proved to be what I 

 had anticipated, namely, the American pipit, 

 or titlark, a slender brown bird, about the 

 size of the sparrow, which passes through the 

 States in the fall and spring, to and from 

 its breeding haunts in the far North. They 

 generally appear by twos and threes, or in 

 small, loose flocks, searching for food on banks 



