The American Pipit 
Taken in Siskiyou County Photo by the Author 
MOUNT SHASTA 
WHERE THE LAST BREEDING PIPITS OF CALIFORNIA WERE SEEN 
General Range. —Breeds in the Arctic and Hudsonian zones from northeastern 
Siberia and the Aleutian Islands to the west coast of Greenland and Newfoundland, and 
on the higher mountains of the West south to Oregon and northern New Mexico. 
Winters from Puget Sound and the Ohio and lower Delaware valleys south to the Gulf 
coast and Guatemala. Casual in Bermuda; accidental in Helgoland. 
Distribution in California. —Common migrant and winter resident at the lower 
levels, practically throughout the State, more abundant coastwise. Has probably bred 
on Mt. Shasta within historical memory, but no longer found there. 
Authorities.—Ga'mbel (Anthus ludovicianus ), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. 
iii., 1846, p. 114 (Calif.; winter); Coues, Birds of the Northwest, 1874, p. 40 (syn.; life 
hist.; nest and eggs); Merriam, N. Am. Fauna, no. 16, 1899, p. 130 (Mt. Shasta, in 
Alpine Arctic zone, “heard” July 17); Swarth, Condor, vol. ii., 1900, p. no (summer 
plumage); Oberholser, Auk, vol. xxxvi., 1919, p. 406 (syst.; nomencl.). 
THE AMERICAN PIPIT does not sustain the habitual dignity of 
the boreal breed. He is no clown, indeed, like our Western Chat, nor 
does he quite belong to the awkward squad, with young Blackbirds; a 
trim form and a natty suit often save him from merited derision, but all 
close observers will agree that there is a screw loose in his make-up 
somewhere. The whole Pipit race seems to be struggling under a strange 
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