AMERICAN PIPIT. 
293 
mellow notes, and then suddenly settles down near the nest or 
on some projecting rock. They leave Labrador and New- 
foundland as soon as the young are able to fly, or about the 
middle of August. According to their well-known habits, they 
frequent open flats, commons, and ploughed fields, like a 
Lark, running rapidly along the ground, taking by surprise their 
insect prey of flies, midges, and other kinds, and when rest- 
ing for an instant, keeping the tail vibrating in the manner of 
the European Wagtail. They also frequent the river shores, 
particularly where gravelly, in quest of minute shell-fish, as 
well as aquatic insects and their lar\'se. At this time they 
utter only a feeble note or call, like tweet tweet, with the final 
tone often plaintively prolonged; and when in flocks, wheel 
about and fly pretty high, and to a considerable distance before 
they alight. Sometimes families of these birds continue all 
winter in the Middle States, if the season prove moderate. In 
the Southern States, particularly North and South Carolina, 
they appear in great flocks in the depth of winter. On the 
shores of the Santee, in January, I observed them gleaning 
their food familiarly amidst the Vultures, drawn by the rubbish 
of the city conveyed to this quarter. They likewise frequent 
the cornfields and rice-grounds for the same purpose. They 
emigrate to the Bermudas, Cuba, and Jamaica, and penetrate 
in the course of the winter even to Mexico, Guiana, and 
Brazil. They also inhabit the plains of the Oregon. They 
are again seen on their return to the North, in Pennsylvania, 
about the beginning of May or close of April. 
Nests of the Titlark have been found on the mountains of 
Colorado. 
Note. — Two European congeners of the Titlark, the White 
Wagtail {^Motacilla alba) and the Meadow Pipit {Ant/ms pra- 
tensis) have been captured in Greenland, but should be considered 
merely as “ accidentals ” in that region. 
