ilORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 461 



Reo-throated PiFlT. Adult, winter plumage. 



four to six In number and are usually of a pale grayish color with a faint tinge of 

 purple, dotted with purplish brown or red, but the markings vary greatly as do the 

 eggs in size. In length they vary from .68 to .82 and In breadth from .55 to .62 inches. 

 A specimen of this bird was taken in Greenland in 1845, and since then Dall has taken 

 it at St. Michael's, Alaska. 



700. SPEAGUE'S PIPIT. AntJius spragueii (Aud.) Geog. Dlst. — Interior 

 plains of North America. Breeds from Central Dakota northward to the Sas- 

 katchewan country; south in winter over southern plains to Southern Mexico. 



The Missouri Skylark has the same general habits common to the Titlark, but 

 soaring like the European Skylark when singing, and according to those who have 

 heard it, its vocal powers are not less inferior than those of that celebrated bird. 

 It breeds abundantly in Dakota and Montana northward to the Saskatchewan dis- 

 tricts, where Captain Blakiston found them common on the prairies during the 

 breeding season. Sprague's Pipit can also be found in summer in Western Minnesota 

 and In Nebraska. Its nest is built on the ground in a depression, and is made of fine 

 grasses. Interwoven in a circular form and without lining. The surrounding grasses 

 are sometimes formed into an arch like the arch-way of the Meadow Lark's nest. 

 The eggs are four or five, of grayish-white, minutely speckled with purplish-gray; 

 size .87X.67 Inches. 



701. AMERICAN' DIPPER. Cinclus mexicanus Swains. Geog. Dist. — Moun- 

 tainous portions of Western North America, from the Yukon Valley south to North- . 

 em Central America (Guatemala). 



The American Water Ouzel, a grayish-colored bird, which has the aquatic habits 

 of a duck and the tilting movements of a sandpiper, inhabits exclusively the moun- 

 tainous portions of Western North America. It is resident as far north as the valley 

 of the Yukon River. It is never found near still water, frequenting only wild, forcible 

 mountain streams, cascades, eddies and swift currents. Mr. Prank M. Drew beau- 

 tifully says that the birds "are the very embodiment of a mountain torrent — bustling 

 and energetic; and their song is like crystallized spray. Sweet, sparkling and 

 vivacious, taken with its surroundings, I do not know of any bird-song which sur- 

 passes It." The nest Is variously situated, but always near water in a nook or crevice, 

 on shelving rocks, among roots of trees, often where the water sprays keep the out- 

 side damp. It is a beautiful ball of soft green moss, measuring about seven inches 



