Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0026/00263.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 9KB | 155 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00263}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{American Pipit or Titlark}
$Subject{Motacillinae; Anthus; ludovicianus; spinoletta; American Pipit;
American Titlark; Water Pipit}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume III}
$Volume{Vol. 3:40-43}
$Family{Motacillinae}
$Genus{Anthus}
$Species{ludovicianus; spinoletta}
$Common_Name{American Pipit; American Titlark; Water Pipit}
$Log{
Plate CL*00263p1.scf
Family*00258.txt
Genus*00262.txt
}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  III.
                        --------------------------------


                           AMERICAN PIPIT OR TITLARK.
                                 [Water Pipit.]


                       ANTHUS LUDOVICIANUS, Lichtenstein.
                              [Anthus spinoletta.]


                          PLATE CL.--MALE AND FEMALE.


     This species is met with in every portion of the United States which I have
visited.  It is one of the birds that I should call gifted with a double set of
habits, for, like a very few others that are strictly named land birds, it
occurs not only in the fields in the interior of the country, but also on the
borders of rivers, and even on the shores of the Atlantic.
     Its flight is extremely easy, and what I would call of a beautiful and
delicate nature.  In other words, these birds pass and repass through the air,
performing numberless evolutions, as if it did not cost them the least labour to
fly.  When in the interior of the country, they resort to the old fields, and
the vast prairies, as well as the ploughed lands, seldom in flocks of less than
ten or a dozen, and not unfrequently by hundreds.  Now, they are seen high,
loosely moving in short reiterated undulations, inspecting the ground below;
now, they come sweeping over and close to it, and seem about to alight, when, on
the contrary, their ranks close in an instant, they wheel about, and rise again
into the air.  These feats are often repeated six or seven times, when at last,
satisfied as to their safety, or the abundance of food in the spot, they alight,
and immediately run about in quest of food.  They run briskly, and as lightly as
birds usually called Larks are wont to do, but with this difference, that they
suffer their tails to vibrate whenever they stop running.  Again, instead of
squatting partially down, as true Larks do, to pick up their food, they move
their body upon the upper joints of the legs, in the manner of Thrushes and
other birds.  Another habit seldom found in the Lark genus is that of settling
on fences and trees, and walking along them with apparent ease.
     Whilst residing among the meadows and ploughed fields, these birds feed on
insects and small seeds, picking up some gravel at the same time.  Along the
rivers, or on the sea-shores, they are fond of running as near the edge of the
water as possible, and searching among the drifted leaves and weeds for such
insects as are usually found there.  The vibratory motion of their tail is now
more perceptible, being quicker.  Their feeble notes are also frequently
uttered.  When shot along the shores, their stomachs have been found filled with
fragments of minute shells, as well as small shrimps, and other garbage.  When
raised by the report of a gun, they rise high, and sometimes fly to a
considerable distance; but you may expect their return to the same spot, if you
keep yourself concealed for a few minutes.  They are expert fly-catchers,
inasmuch as they leap from the ground, and follow insects on the wing for
several feet with avidity.  The company of cattle is agreeable to them, so much
so, that they walk almost under them in quest of insects.
     The species now under consideration reaches Louisiana about the middle of
October, and leaves it in the beginning of March.  I caught some of these birds
on my passage from France to the United States, on the Great Newfoundland Banks.
They came on board wearied, and so hungry that the crumbs of biscuit thrown to
them were picked up with the greatest activity.
     This bird extends its migrations to the Missouri and Columbia river, where
it was met with by Mr. TOWNSEND.  I found it in April in the Texas, and Dr.
RICHARDSON observed it in small flocks on the plains of the Saskatchewan in the
spring of 1827, feeding on the larvae of small insects, particularly of a
species of ant.  I found it breeding very abundantly on tho coast of Labrador,
on the moss-covered rocks, as well as in the deep valleys, but never at any
great distance from the sea.  The nests were usually placed at the foot of a
wall of the rocks, buried in the dark mould, and beautifully formed of fine bent
grass, arranged in a circular manner, without any hair or other lining.  Both
birds incubate, sitting so closely, that on several occasions I almost put my
foot upon them before they flew.  The first that I found was on the 29th of
June, when the thermometer ranged from 51 degrees to 54 degrees.  The eggs were
six in number, five-eighths of an inch long, six and a quarter twelfths in
breadth, being rather elongated, though rounded at both ends; their
ground-colour of a deep reddish-chestnut or reddish-brown, considerably darkened
by numerous dots of a deeper reddish-brown and lines of various sizes,
especially toward the large end.  The drawing of an egg supposed to be of this
species, sent me by Dr. THOMAS M. BREWER of Boston, measures seven-eighths of
an inch in length, five-eighths in breadth, and is more pointed at the small end
than any of those found in Labrador; its ground-colour is whitish, faintly
marked all over with dull reddish-brown dots.  It was found in Coventry, in the
State of Vermont.
     These Titlarks vary much in colour, having the upper parts in spring almost
of a leaden grey, the cheeks and a line over the eye whitish, the lower parts of
a beautiful light buff.  The claws of those shot in Labrador were shorter than
usual, having probably been worn in scratching the mosses and soil in forming a
place for the nest.  During the breeding-time the male often rises on wing to
the height of eight or ten yards, and emits a few clear and mellow notes, but
returns to its consort or alights on the rock with a suddenness in keeping with
the short duration of its song, which is rarely heard after the eggs are
hatched.  These birds leave Labrador and Newfoundland as soon as their young are
able to fly, which is usually the case about the middle of August.  On the 6th
of July 1833, in Labrador, I heard this bird singing both on wing and on the
ground.  When on wing, it sings while flying very irregularly in zigzags up and
down; when on the rocks, it stands erect, and I think produces a louder and
clearer song.
     When returning northward in spring, their movements correspond with the
advancement of the season, and we found them to increase in number as we
proceeded, and to settle in all the favourable places.  In the vicinity of
Charleston, as well as in that of New Orleans, where this species is very
abundant during winter, it is frequently seen seeking for food among the
castings of filth of all sorts, in company with the Turkey Buzzards and Carrion
Crows, and when disturbed, will alight on the roof of the nearest building, on
stakes or fences, as well as walls, and occasionally on the branches of trees.


     BROWN LARK, Alauda rufa, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. v. p. 89.
     ANTHUS SPINOLETTA, Bonap. Syn., p. 90.
     BROWN TITLARK, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p.49. Adult.
     PRAIRIE TITLARK, Anthus pipiens, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 408, Young.
       BROWN TITLARK and PRAIRIE TITLARK, vol. v. p. 449.


     Hind claw longer than the toe, slightly arched, and very slender.  Male, in
winter plumage, with the bill dusky, the legs and claws deep greenish-brown;
upper parts greyish-olive, tined with green,