6 WiDMANN, A Winter jRobin Roost in. Missouri. 



to be worked into a new cornfield — if only the Mississippi will 

 be merciful enough to spare it from an untimely flood — when 

 we notice that on and between the large clods everything seems 

 alive with little birds. And how busy they are ! Those nearest 

 to us run in stooping attitude as fast as they can long distances 

 down the furrows ; the others walk by fits and starts with 

 watchful eye, darting right and left, to pick up the bread and 

 meat which the plow so kindly exposed. Now and then one will 

 fly up into the air, ten or more feet, and with a dexterous turn 

 will overtake a fleeing insect. This is a flock of Titlarks or 

 Pipits, Antkus pensilvmicus ; perhaps a hundred of the sprightly 

 birds, and as long as they stay with us the marsh will not be the 

 desolate wilderness for which at first we took it. They have a 

 way of enlivening a region in the most interesting manner. They 

 are not always on the ploughed field, and when they leave it and 

 take to wing as if to say good-bye forever, they will shortly be 

 back again and try another piece of ground, the very one which 

 has been charred so recently that the cinders still preserve the 

 shape of the plant of which they formed the frame. 



And even if not seen their endearing voice is so often in the 

 air, that we are always cognizant of their presence. Small parties 

 follow us to the mud-flats in the lake and even walk deliberately 

 into the water, up to the belly, to obtain a toothsome morsel 

 from below its surface. 



Though belonging to the Wagtail family, the wagging of the 

 tail does not play such a conspicuous role as one might suppose. 

 Indeed, it is only performed when its owner is in a sort of excite- 

 ment, especially when in a state of undecision, where the fluc- 

 tuations of its mind are expressed in, or at least correspond with, 

 the vacillations of its tail. 



The white tail-feathers do not form such a distinguishing 

 feature as they do in Junco, for instance. The white is but little 

 visible when the bird takes wing, but it shows very plainly on 

 alighting, when the fully spread tail-feathers check the force of 

 the descent. The dress they wear this time of the year varies 

 greatly in intensity and in color with the individual. 'I'he 

 cinnamon-buff of the lower part is mostly of a yellow cast, but 

 not seldom a decidedly reddish hue. The amount of dark spots 



