WAGTAILS 



(697) Anthus rubescens 



(Ttinslall) (Lat., becoming ruddy). 



PIPIT; TITLARK. As shown by 

 the upper bird; bright ruddy-buff be- 

 low; grayish above; streaked on 

 breast and sides; outer tail feathers 

 with white. 



Range — Breeds in northern Canada 

 and in high mountains in western U. S. 

 (700) Anthus spraguei Audubon 



SPRAGUE'S PIPIT. As shown 

 by the lower bird; streaked above on 

 back and crown with black and yel- 

 lowish-brown. L., 6.25. 



Range — Interior plains from Man. 

 and Sask. south to Mont, and N. Dak. 



(694) WHITE WAGTAIL (Mot- 

 acilla alba), accidental in Ungava. 



(698) MEADOW PIPIT (An- 

 thus pratensis), an European species; 

 accidental in Greenland. 



ways of showing it off are so conspicuous. Both sexes are 

 handsomely gowned and no one knows it better than they. 

 The male is often chasing his mate or other small birds about 

 among the branches just for sport. At nearly all times when 

 perching, he is fluttering his wings nervously and opening and 

 closing his tail fan- wise. Redstarts are always uneasy; they 

 rarely remain more than a few seconds in any one pose. 

 They put the most active of the flycatchers to shame by the 

 celerity with which they dash after winged insects, darting 

 hither and yon in apparently mad rushes, but at each move 

 capturing one or more of the many gnats that are always 

 present in woods. They have several songs — all high- 

 pitched. Among the most common are a "zee-zee-zee-zeet," 

 in an ascending tone, and a "wee-zee, wee-zee, wee-zee" sim- 

 ilar to the song of the Yellow Warbler. Their nests are 

 firmly made cups of gray plant fibres and web, lined with 

 fine grasses and fibres, the whole firmly attached in crotches 

 at any height from the ground. 



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