PIPITS 325 



hanging by their silken threads are snapped up in mid air by 

 the Redstart. * * * It is an efficient caterpillar hunter, and 

 one of the most destructive enemies of the smaller hairy cater- 

 pillars. It catches bugs, moths, gnats, two-winged flies, small 

 grasshoppers, and beetles. It probably secures a larger pro- 

 portion of parasitic Hymenoptera and Diptera than most other 

 Warblers, occasionally destroying a few wasps; otherwise, its 

 habits seem to be entirely beneficial.f 



To this diet list may be added, spiders, plant lice, scale 

 insects, and magnolia seeds. 



WAGTAILS AND PIPITS: Family MotaeUlidae. 



AMERICAN PIPIT: Ardhiis spinoletta rubeseens 

 (Tunstall).* 



State records. — The American pipit, or titlark (PL VII), 

 is a locally common winter resident, occurring sometimes in 

 large numbers. McCormack records it at Leighton between 

 November 6 and March 17 and states that it is sometimes seen 

 in immense flocks. Avery found it common at Greensboro, 

 and Brown at Coosada ; stragglers remained at the latter place 

 till the last of March. Miss Parkhurst reports the bird in 

 numbers at Talladega, January 8 to 15, 1910, and Golsan and 

 Holt record it as a common winter resident in Autauga and 

 Montgomery Counties.J On Dauphin Island, February 13, 

 1912, I found it fairly common on sandy beaches and short- 

 grass marshes. One bird was seen there, also, on March 22. 

 At Bayou Labatre, in November, pipits were seen frequently 

 in small flocks about the marshes and on Coffee Island. Near 

 Mobile, February 5, 1912, they were fairly numerous in weedy 

 fields and open pine flats on the borders of the city. At 

 Uniontpwn, March 1, 1 saw about 30 in ploughed fields, and at 

 Auburn, March 6, a flock of about 50 in cultivated fields. 



General habits. — The pipit is a strictly ground-dwelling 

 bird and a dainty walker. It closely resembles some of the 

 winter-visitant sparrows, but may be distinguished from them 

 by its slender bill and by its habit of walking instead of hop- 

 ping. During its stay in the South, from about the first of 



tForbuah, E. H., Useful birds and their protection, pp. 197-198, 1907. 

 *Anthiu rabescens of the A. O. U. Check-list; for change of name see The Auk, vol. 

 35, p. 212. 1918. 



tGoIsan and Holt, The Auk, vol. 31, p. 238, 1914. 



