Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 



reddish tinge; but at any season, and under all circumstances, 

 the pipit is a distinctly brown bird, resembling the water thrushes 

 not in plumage only, but in the comical tail waggings and jerk- 

 ings that alone are sufficient to identify it. However the books 

 may tell us the bird is a wagtail, it certainly possesses two strong 

 characteristics of true larks: it is a walker, delighting in walking 

 or running, never hopping over the ground, and it has the angelic 

 habit of singing as it flies. 



During the migrations the pipits are abundant in salt marshes 

 or open stretches of country inland, that, with lark-like preference, 

 they choose for 'feeding grounds. When flushed, all the flock 

 rise together with uncertain flight, hovering and wheeling about 

 the place, calling down dee-dee, dee-dee above your head until 

 you have passed on your way, then promptly returning to the 

 spot from whence they were disturbed. Along the roadsides 

 and pastures, where two or three birds are frequently seen to- 

 gether, they are too often mistaken for the vesper sparrows 

 because of their similar size and coloring, but their easy, graceful 

 walk should distinguish them at once from the hopping sparrow. 

 They often run to get ahead of some one in the lane, but rarely fly 

 if they can help it, and then scarcely higher than a fence-rail. 

 Early in summer they are off for the mountains in the north. 

 Labrador is their chosen nesting ground, and they are said to 

 place their grassy nest, lined with lichens or moss, flat upon the 

 ground — still another lark trait. Their eggs are chocolate-brown 

 scratched with black. 



Whippoorwlll 



(Antrostomus vociferus) Goatsucker family 



Length — 9 to 10 inches. About the size of the robin. Apparently 

 much larger, because of its long wings and wide wing- 

 spread. 



Male — A long-winged bird, mottled all over with reddish brown, 

 grayish black, and dusky white; numerous bristles fringing 

 the large mouth. A narrow white band across the upper 

 breast. Tail quills on the end and under side white. 



Female — Similar to male, except that the tail is dusky in color 

 where that of the male is white. Band on breast buff instead 

 of white. 



Range — United States, to the plains. Not common near the sea. 



Migrations — Late April to middle of September. Summer resident. 



136 



