342 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
shore-lark very much resembles the sky-lark in its habit of rising almost per¬ 
pendicularly in the air, wheeling up and up in irregular circles until nearly out 
of sight, singing at intervals a sweet song, and then descending to the very spot 
whence he rose. All larks are insectivorous, and may be numbered among 
the farmer’s most useful friends ; the shore-lark occasionally varies its food by 
visiting the shores of streams, and there feeding on small Crustacea. 
The Tree Pipit (Antkeus arbore'us), also called Tit-lark , is quite numerous 
throughout the United States, as is the American Pipit (A. ludomcianus) and 
the Meadow Pipit (A. pratensis ), the habits of which are very similar, but 
in coloring there is a marked difference. The latter, while classed as. 
a song bird, utters only a single “ tweet " 
in a feeble voice, and only while on the 
wing and at its greatest elevation. It 
is most common about waste lands, 
where small flocks assemble, and as 
these increase towards fall the waste lands 
are abandoned for cultivated fields. It 
is, perhaps, strongest of wing of all land 
birds, having been taken on board a ship 
nine hundred miles from the nearest 
shore. The color is an olive-brown, 
with wash of green on the upper parts; 
wings and tail a dark-brown sprinkled 
with white. The breast is a pale white 
with spots of brown. The tree pipit is 
so called because of its habit of perching 
upon trees, in contrast to all the other species which remain most of the time 
upon the ground, though it is not nearly so graceful on a perch as when 
tripping among the grasses. 
The song of this bird is sweeter 
and more powerful than that of the 
preceding species, and is generally 
given in a very curious manner. 
Taking advantage of some convenient 
tree, it hops from branch to branch, 
chirping merrily with each hop, and 
after reaching the summit of the tree 
perches for a few moments, and then 
launches itself into the air. Having 
accomplished this feat, the bird bursts 
into a triumphant strain of music, 
and, fluttering downwards as it sings, 
alights upon the same tree from which it had started, and by successive leaps 
again reaches the ground. The color very much resembles that of the former 
species, but the size is considerably greater. The American pipit , like the other 
species, builds its nest upon the ground under a tuft of grass, and incubation 
is performed by male and female sitting together. As might be expected from 
this habit of nesting, the pipit is an affectionate bird, devoted with singularly 
strong attachment to its mate. 
