The American Pipit 
the bird begins to fidget 
forthwith, to step 
stealthily, to forget his 
proper business of fly- 
catching, and to mutter 
about a forgotten 
engagement. At sixty 
feet,—the bird being at 
that distance about as 
large on a photographic 
plate as the small end 
of a dull pin—he scuttles 
to the top of a stranded 
kelp root and declares 
his intention of leaving 
instanter if you do not 
abate your rudeness. 
He stands his ground, 
however, till you are 
about to swing at an un¬ 
satisfactory range of 
forty feet, when he 
springs into the air with 
an exultant bound and 
shouts derisively, “ pip¬ 
it thlipit.” Pip it! and 
also drat it! 
The spring move¬ 
ment of return sets in 
early, and the northern 
passage is rather more direct. Spring flocks may be looked for in the 
fertile, plowed fields, where they feed attentively, often in absolute 
silence, moving about with “graceful, gliding walk, tilting the body, 
and wagging the tail at each step, much in the manner of a Seiurus.” 
Pipits are boreal breeders; and they nest at high altitudes (anywhere 
above timber line) from Oregon northward. Why they should have 
deserted our Sierras, which enthrall such glacial connoisseurs as Rosy 
Finch and White-crowned Sparrow, we cannot tell; but they are not 
suspected of nesting anywhere in California, save on Mt. Shasta, and their 
nests have not actually been found even there. 
Because of this fact, we may be pardoned for following the Anthine 
fortunes a little further up the Sierra-Cascade ridge. At home, the 
AMERICAN PIPITS 
$34 
