THE INVITATION 217 



Western or Pacific birds were but little known to 

 him, and are only briefly mentioned in his works. 



It is, by the way, a little remarkable how many 

 of the Western birds seem merely duplicates of the 

 Eastern. Thus, the varied thrush of the West is 

 our robin, a little differently marked; and the red- 

 shafted woodpecker is our golden- wing, or high- 

 hole, colored red instead of yellow. There is also 

 a Western chickadee, a Western chewink, a West- 

 ern blue jay, a Western meadowlark, a Western 

 snowbird, a Western bluebird, a Western song spar- 

 row, Western grouse, quail, hen-hawk, 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, said: "I have observed recently a 

 new species of bird here. They alight upon the 

 buildings and fences as well as upon the ground. 

 They are walkers." 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 and plowed ground. As they flv nr>, tl^y 



