432 
DIPPERS 
tops of the peaks at 14,000 feet. In the breeding season the males 
have a flight song similar to that of the oven-bird, often ascending a 
hundred feet singing as they go, and afterwards dropping almost 
straight to the ground. 
Subgenus Neocorys. 
700. Anthus spragueii ( Aud.). Spkague Pipit. 
Hind toe and claw longer than tarsus. Adults in summer: upper parts 
broadly streaked with blackish brown and grayish 
buff; wings dusky, with pale edgings; two outer 
pairs of tail feathers chiefly white; outside pair 
sometimes wholly white; under parts dull huffy 
white, more huffy across chest, where narrowly 
streaked with dusky. Adults in winter: browner 
above, more huffy below, and chest streaks broader. 
Young: upper parts brownish buff, broadly streaked 
Fig. 543. with black; feathers of back and scapulars tipped 
with huffy or whitish; chin, throat, and sides of 
neck whitish, lower throat and sides of neck streaked with dusky; rest of 
under parts light buff; chest and sides of breast streaked with black. 
Length : 5.75-7.00, wing 3.20-3.40, tail 2.35-2.60. 
Distribution. — Breeds on the interior plains of North America from the 
Saskatchewan to Nebraska, and from the Red River west, probably, to the 
Rocky Mountains; winters in Louisiana, Texas, and northern Mexico ; acci¬ 
dental in South Carolina. 
Nest. — Like that of A. pensilvanicus, but eggs pale purplish buffy or 
buffy white, thickly spotted with purplish brown. 
Food. — Insects, and seeds of weeds and grasses. 
The habits of the Sprague pipit closely resemble those of the other 
pipits. In Coues’s Birds of the Northwest there is an enthusiastic 
description of the flight song of spragueii. 
FAMILY CINCLIDiE: DIPPERS. 
GENUS CINCLUS. 
701. Cinclus mexicanus Swains. Water Ouzel: Dipper. 
Bill shorter than head, slender, and compressed; wing short, stiff, 
rounded, with ten primaries, 
the first spurious ; tail shorter 
than wing , soft, of twelve 
broad rounded feathers 
almost hidden by coverts; 
tarsus without scales; claws 
strongly curved. Adults in 
summer: whole body nearly uniform slate gray, a trifle lighter below; 
head and neck faintly tinged with brown. Adults in winter: similar, 
but feathers of wings and under parts lightly tipped with white. Young : 
similar to winter plumage, but under parts more or less mixed with white 
and tinged with rusty. Length: 7.00-8.50, wing 3.40-3.81, tail 1.90-2.12, 
bill .60-.70. 
Distribution. — Mountainous parts of central and western North America 
Fig. 544. 
