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AMERICAN PIPIT OR TITLARK. 



-KAnthus ludovicianus, Lichtenslein. 

 PLATE CL.-— Male and Female. 



This species is met with in every portion of the United States which I 

 have visited. It is one of the birds that I should call gifted with a double 

 set of habits, for, like a very few others that are strictly named land birds, 

 it occurs not only in the fields in the interior of the country, but also on the 

 borders of rivers, and even on the shores of the Atlantic. 



Its flight is extremely easy, and what I would call of a beautiful and 

 delicate nature. In other words, these birds pass and repass through the air, 

 performing numberless evolutions, as if it did not cost them the least labour 

 to fly. When in the interior of the country, they resort to the old fields, 

 and the vast prairies, as well as the ploughed lands, seldom in flocks of less 

 than ten or a dozen, and not unfrequently by hundreds. Now, they are 

 seen high, loosely moving in short reiterated undulations, inspecting the 

 ground below; now, they come sweeping over and close to it, and seem 

 about to alight, when, on the contrary, their ranks close in an instant, they 

 wheel about, and rise again into the air. These feats are often repeated six 

 or seven times, when at last, satisfied as to their safety, or the abundance of 

 food in the spot, they alight, and immediately run about in quest of food. 

 They run briskly, and as lightly as birds usually called Larks are wont to 

 do, but with this difference, that they suffer their tails to vibrate whenever 

 they stop running. Again, instead of squatting partially down, as true 

 Larks do, to pick up their food, they move their body upon the upper joints 

 of the legs, in the manner of Thrushes and other birds. Another habit 

 seldom found in the Lark genus is that of settling on fences and trees, and 

 walking along them with apparent ease. 



Whilst residing among the meadows and ploughed fields, these birds feed 

 on insects and small seeds, picking up some gravel at the same time. Along 

 the rivers, or on the sea-shores, they are fond of running as near the edge of 

 the water as possible, and searching among the drifted leaves and weeds for 

 such insects as are usually found there. The vibratory motion of their tail 

 is now more perceptible, being quicker. Their feeble notes are also 

 frequently uttered. When shot along the shores, their stomachs have been 

 found filled with fragments of minute shells, as well as small shrimps, and 



