WAGTAILS AND PIPITS 
471 
Wagtails are found about the borders of streams and where there is 
more or less vegetation, while the Pipits are more larklike and usually 
inhabit an open, treeless country. Both Wagtails and Pipits are emi- 
nently terrestrial. They walk or run, instead of hop, rarely (with one 
or two exceptions) if ever alight in trees, sing on the wing, the Pipits 
ascending much the higher, and nest on the ground, and both have in a 
highly developed form the habit of tail-wagging. 
697. Anthus rubescens (Tunstall). American Pipit. (Fig. 71.) Ads. 
in winter. — Outer tail-feather largely white, next one or two white-tipped. 
Above warm grayish brown; wing-coverts tipped with whitish or buffy; 
longest tertial longer than fifth primary; a whitish or buffy line over eye; 
below buffy (whitish just before spring molt) breast and sides streaked with 
fuscous; hind toe-nail longest , as long as or longer than its toe. After spring 
molt upperparts grayer, underparts more pinkish buff, but these colors fade 
as breeding season advances. L., 6*38; W., 3*50; T., 2*69; B., *47. 
Range. — Breeds in Arctic zone from ne. Siberia, n. Alaska, and lat. 70° 
on w. coast of Greenland s. to Great Slave Lake, cen. Keewatin, n. Que., 
and N. F., and on high mts. s. to Calif., Colo., and N. M.; winters from s. 
Calif., and the Ohio and lower Del. valleys to Guatemala. 
Washington, W. V., sometimes abundant, Oct. 2-May 12. Ossining, 
common T. V., Mch. 26— (? ) ; Sept. 24-Nov. 16. Cambridge, T. V., abund- 
ant Sept. 20-Nov. 10; rare Apl. 10-May 20. N. Ohio, common T. V., Apl. 
6-May 26; Oct. 19. Glen Ellyn, not common T. V., Apl. 15- ; Sept. 30- 
Oct. 18. SE. Minn., common T. V., May 4- ; Oct. 
Nest, of grasses, on the ground. Eggs, 4-6, bluish white or grayish 
white, thickly and evenly speckled with cinnamon- or vinaceous-brown, 
*78 X ‘57. Date , Whale River, Lab., June 20. 
Large, open tracts in the vicinity of the coast are the localities in 
which Titlarks are most common, but they are also found in numbers in 
old fields, meadows, and pastures inland. A recently burned or newly 
plowed field is a good place in which to look for them. Once seen, there 
is little difficulty in identifying these graceful walkers, as they run on 
before you, or with constantly wagging tail await your approach. The 
individuals of a flock are generally scattered over a varying space while 
feeding, but when flushed they rise together and, with a soft dee-dee , 
dee-dee , mount high in the air as though bound for parts unknown, 
but often, after hovering above you for several seconds in an undecided 
way, they will return to or near the place from which they rose. Their 
flight is light and airy, and in loose companies they undulate gently 
through the air without apparent effort, uttering their faint dee-dee 
as they fly. 
The Pipit’s song is delivered in the air both as he mounts to and 
descends from a height of as much as two hundred feet. To me it sounds 
like the ringing of a little bell. Townsend (“Along the Labrador Coast,” 
p. 52) describes it as u che-whee, che-whee, with a vibratory resonance on 
the whee” 
700. Anthus spraguei ( Aud .). Sprague’s Pipit. Hind toe-nail 
longer than its claw. Ads. — Above grayish brown widely margined with 
buffy or ashy, tail fuscous, two outer feathers largely white, wings browner 
with two indistinct bars; below white, buff -tinged, a band of streaks across 
the breast. L., 6*25; W., 3*30; T., 2*40; B., *50. 
