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of the true Larks, jerking the tail like our Water-Thrushes and the European Wagtails. When 
feeding on the open ground in the interior, their food is chiefly insects and small seeds. On the 
banks of rivers and on the sea-shore they are fond of running along the edge of the water, 
searching among the drift for insects, small shells, and crustaceans. Near New Orleans and 
Charleston, in the winter, Mr. Audubon found them feeding, in company with the Turkey- 
Buzzard, upon garbage.” 
The Pennsylvanian Pipit breeds in the more boreal portions of North America and in 
Labrador ; and, according to Mr. Allen, it certainly breeds in the mountains of Colorado, within 
the limits of the United States; for he found young birds, scarcely able to fly, in July, on Mount 
Lincoln, Park County, Colorado. Audubon gives particulars of its nidification in Labrador; and 
Dr. EK. Coues, who likewise found it breeding there, writes (B. of N. W. p. 41) as follows:— 
“It was there the most numerous of the land birds, excepting perhaps the White-crowned 
Sparrow, frequenting open, bare and exposed localities, often on the rocky and barren islands 
almost untenanted by other species. Here, as elsewhere in maritime localities, the birds are 
fond of resorting to the sea-shore at low tide, there to ramble in quest of food on the mud and 
sea-wrack in company with Sandpipers, and not distantly resembling these birds in their 
manners. Two nests I obtained in July were both placed in a cavity in the ground, about as 
large as a child’s head, on the side of a steep rocky chasm. A flooring of dried grass had been 
introduced to keep the nest from the wet; the nests were built upon this, of coarse dried grass 
loosely arranged and without lining; the exterior diameter was about six inches, the interior 
three inches, with a depth of two inches. One nest contained five, the other four eggs, 
averaging thirteen sixteenths of an inch long, by nine and one half sixteenths broad; of a dark 
chocolate-colour, indistinctly marked with numerous small spots and streaks of blackish. ‘The 
parents do not leave the nest until nearly trodden on; then the one that is incubating flutters up 
with loud cries of distress that soon bring the mate, and the pair hover anxiously over head, at 
times approaching within a few feet, or even alighting close by, all the while crying out in the 
most beseeching and plaintive manner. I saw no attempt to deceive by feigning lameness; but the 
birds often follow any one who has disturbed them for some distance. On such occasions several 
pairs nesting near each other, are often aroused, and join their cries with those of the afflicted 
parents.” 
I possess a series of the eggs of this species from Labrador, which are generally more 
reddish in tinge than those of our Rock-Pipit, though some are but slightly different from 
typical eggs of that species, which they resemble in size, but are, as a rule, a trifle smaller. One 
rather aberrant variety is dull greenish grey, with such indistinct spots as to appear almost 
uniform in colour. 
The specimen figured is an adult male shot by myself in Texas in January. 
In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens :— 
E Mus. H. EH. Dresser. 
a, d. Labrador, spring (Méschler). 6, c, Pennsylvania. dd. San Antonio, Texas, January 10th, 1864 
(H. E. D.). 
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