A STUDY OF THE SINGING OF OUR BIRDS. 



BY EUGENE P. BICKNELL. 



{Continued from p. 140.) 



Anthus pensilvanicus {Lat/i.) Thienem* American 

 Titlark. 



Every autumn, late in September or early in October, Tit- 

 larks appear in restless flocks, flitting about the brown fields and 

 salt meadows, the quick double-note of many individuals sound- 

 ing in agi-eeable consonance when the flocks are on the wing. 



Before the present year I never knew them to occur in the 

 spring, but this season they were present in large flocks through 

 the greater part of April, first appearing on the 3d. On the 

 afternoon of the 20th, I was quite sure I heard them sing — some 

 short trills, sometimes broken into separate notes, certainly 

 came from a flock of Titlarks in a large tulip tree standing alone 

 in a wide field. Though the songs of Robins and Meadow Larks 

 confused my hearing, before the flock took wing I heard enough 

 to satisfy me that the Titlark does sometimes sing while it is 

 with us on its spring migration. 



* Cf. Stejncger, Auk, Vol. I., pp. 167, 168. 



Auk, I. July, 1884. Ok S^O"^. 



In Titlark (^Anthus hidovicianus) we again have the prefix 

 "small." Lark is a condensation of two ancient words in Anglo 

 Saxon {Icew, "craft," and werca, " a worker") which meant a 

 worker of guile ; and the etymologists tell us " the name points 

 to some superstition which regarded the bird as of ill omen." In 

 the Scotch form Lavrock or Laverock a near resemblance to the 

 old Icelandic IcBviriki (meaning the same as above) is to be seen. 

 As for Pifit or Pipit Lark, common terms, the word is derived 

 from the same root as the verb to feep (like a young bird's cry) 

 and hence a word describing its somewhat feeble chirp. In my 

 long list of local American names for this species occur the fol- 

 lowing : Titlark, Prairie Titlark, Lark, Skylark (Dist. of 

 Col.), Louisiana Lark (and many other old book-names) ; 

 Brown Lark, Red Lark ; Wagtail, American Pipit, Alouette 

 Pipe, etc., etc. . 



BnU. N.0,0, S.Apil. I88S, p. 7^- 



