Part 24

Point of wing formed by four outer primaries, of which the fourth sometimes a little shorter than the third. Hind toe and claw as long as middle, shorter than tarsus, the claw alone usually a little longer than the toe itself, and slightly curved; inner toe and claw longer than the outer; outstretched toes falling short of the tip of tail; hind toe and claw shorter than tarsus … _Anthus_.

Point of wings formed by four outer primaries, the first longest, or as long as others. Legs stout, the outstretched toes reaching almost to tip of tail. Hind toe and claw longer than tarsus, the claw very long, but equal to the toe proper … _Neocorys_.

_b. Wings short, rounded._

Point of wings formed by four outer primaries of nearly equal length … _Notiocorys_.[32]

Point of wings formed by five outer primaries, the first shorter than third … _Pediocorys_.[33]

GENUS ANTHUS, BECHST.

_Anthus_, BECHST. Gemein. Naturg. Deutschl. 1802. (Type, _Alauda spinoletta_.)

[Line drawing: _Anthus ludovicianus._ 328]

CHAR. Bill slender, much attenuated, and distinctly notched. A few short bristles at the base. Culmen concave at the base. Tarsi quite distinctly scutellate; longer than the middle toe; inner lateral toe the longer. Hind toe rather shorter than the tarsus, but longer than the middle toe, owing to the long, attenuated, and moderately curved hind claw, which is considerably more than half the total length of the toe. Tail rather long, emarginate. Wing very long, considerably longer than the lengthened tail, reaching to its middle. The first primary nearly equal to the longest. The tertials almost as long as the primaries.

But one species of this genus belongs properly to North America, although a second is accidental in Greenland and Alaska. The diagnoses are as follows:—

Bill and feet blackish. Prevailing color above olive-brown. Beneath buff. Edge and inside of wings white. Shafts of middle tail-feathers above dark brown … _A. ludovicianus._

Bill and feet dusky flesh-color. Prevailing color above olive-green; more distinctly streaked. Beneath greenish-white. Edge and inside of wings greenish-yellow. Shafts of middle tail-feathers above whitish … _A. pratensis._

ZANDER (Cabanis Journal, Extraheft I, 1853, 64) states that _Anthus cervinus_, PALLAS, is found in the Aleutian Islands. It is described as having

The feet yellowish-brown; the two longest under tail-coverts with a blackish longitudinal spot; the longest tertial almost equal to the longest primary; the shaft of the first tail-feather mostly white; no green on the plumage; the throat rust-color.

BALDAMUS (Naumannia, 1857, 202) says he has received _Anthus aquaticus_ and its eggs from Labrador. This statement, however, requires verification.

Anthus ludovicianus, LICHT.

TITLARK; AMERICAN PIPIT.

_Alauda ludoviciana_, GM. S. N. I, 1788, 793. _Anthus ludovicianus_, LICHT. Verz. 1823, 37; also of AUDUBON & BONAPARTE.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 232; Rev. 153.—COUES, Pr. A. N. S. 1861, 220 (Labrador).—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 296 (Cordova).—IB. Catal. 1861, 24, no. 153. SCL. & SALV. Ibis, 1859, 9 (Guatemala).—JONES, Nat. in Bermuda, 1859, 29, autumn.—BLAKISTON, Ibis, 1862, 4 (Saskatchewan).—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chic. Ac. I, 1869, 277.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 78. _Alauda rubra_, GM.; _Alauda rufa_, WILS.; _Anthus spinoletta_, BON., AUD.; _Alauda pennsylvanica_, BRISS.; _? Alauda pennsylvanica_, BONN. Encycl. Méth. I, 1790, 319. _? Motacilla hudsonica_, LATH. Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 503.—VIEILLOT, Encycl. Méth. II, 1823, 447. _Anthus pennsylvanica_, ZANDER; _Anthus aquaticus_, AUD.; _Anthus pipiens_, AUD.; _Anthus rubens_, MERREM; _Anthus reinhardtii_, HÖLBOLL, Fauna Grönlands (ed. Paulsen), 1846, 25 (Greenland). Figures: AUD. Birds Am. III, pl. cxl.—IB. Orn. Biog. I, pl. lxxx.— WILSON, V. pl. lxxxix.

SP. CHAR. (_Female_, in spring.) Above olive-brown, each feather slightly darker towards the central portion; beneath pale dull-buff, or yellowish-brown, with a maxillary series of dark-brown spots and streaks across the breast and along sides. Ring round the eye, and superciliary stripe, yellowish. Central tail-feathers like the back, others dark blackish-brown; the external one white, except at the base within; a white spot at the end of the second. Primaries edged with whitish, other quills with pale brownish. Length, 6.50; wing, 3.45; tail, 2.95.

HAB. Whole of North America; Greenland; Bermuda; south to Orizaba, Guatemala, and even Peru? Heligoland, Europe. (GÄTKE.) Not noted in West Indies.

Spring specimens from Labrador, collected by Dr. Coues, have the upper parts ashy without any tinge of olive, almost bluish on the head; the lower parts deeper and more reddish-buff than in autumnal and winter specimens. Tarsi black in spring, brown in winter; toes always black.

HABITS. At different seasons of the year the Brown Titlark is found throughout the continent, and abundant for the time in the several parts of the country, chiefly frequenting the least cultivated portions and apparently preferring the sterile and least attractive regions. It is one of the most extensively distributed of all our North American birds, being found in immense numbers over the whole length and breadth of North America. Gambel met them in large numbers in New Mexico and California; Richardson found them on the plains of the Saskatchewan; it is abundant in the Arctic regions from May to October, and is equally common on the coast of Labrador; Mr. Dall found it universal from British Columbia north. It is also found in Florida, Cape St. Lucas, Mexico, and Central America. Accidental specimens have occurred in Europe.

This lark is a bird of easy and beautiful flight, passing and repassing through the air with graceful evolutions, and when moving to new localities, sweeping over the place several times before alighting. It also moves rapidly on the ground and after the manner of the true larks, jerking the tail like our Water-Thrushes and the European Wagtails.

When feeding on the open ground in the interior, their food is chiefly insects and small seeds. On the banks of rivers and on the seashore they are fond of running along the edge of the water, searching among the drift for insects, small shells, and crustaceans. Near New Orleans and Charleston, in the winter, Mr. Audubon found them feeding, in company with the Turkey Buzzard, upon garbage.

Dr. Coues found the Titlark abundant in every locality visited by him in Labrador, giving him an ample opportunity to observe its habits during the breeding-season. He found them on some of the most rocky and barren islands along the coast. They frequented only the open, bare, and exposed situations, such as that coast everywhere afforded, and were never found in wooded localities. The nests of this species found by him were identical in situation, form, and construction, placed on the sides of steep, precipitous chasms, in small cavities in the earth, into which dry moss had been introduced to keep the nest from the damp ground. They were composed entirely of coarse, dry grasses loosely put together, without any lining. Their external diameter was six inches, and the depth of the cavity two inches.

Dr. Coues describes the song of the male bird as very sweet and pleasant. Mr. Audubon speaks of it as consisting of a few clear and mellow notes when on the wing, and when standing erect on the rocks it produces a clearer and louder song.

Dr. Coues speaks of their flight as undulating and unsteady, and never protracted to any great distance. They never alight on bushes, but always on the ground, where they run with great ease and rapidity. At low tides they resorted to the muddy flats, where they ran about upon the eel-grass, searching for their food in company with the small Sandpipers and in a similar manner, finding there an abundance of food. At all times they exhibited a heedless familiarity and an entire want of fear of man, feeding unconcernedly around the doors of the houses, and searching for their insect food on the roofs of the sheds and dwellings.

Both birds incubate and sit so closely that they may almost be trodden upon before they are willing to leave their nest, and even then only flutter off to a short distance, with loud cries of distress that soon bring the mate and other pairs of the same species to join in the lamentations. They hover over the heads of the intruders, at times approaching within a few feet, expressing their distress by the most plaintive cries, and even when the intruders withdraw following them to a considerable distance.

All the nests of this lark that I have seen are remarkable for the thickness of their walls, and the strength, compactness, and elaborate care with which the materials are put together, particularly for nests built on the ground. They are well suited to protect their contents from the cold, damp ground on which they are placed; and their upper portions are composed of stout vegetable stems, lichens, and grasses strongly interwoven, and forming a strong rim around the upper part of the nest.

Dr. Coues describes their eggs as of a dark chocolate-color, indistinctly marked with numerous small lines and streaks of black. Audubon describes them as having a ground-color of a deep reddish-chestnut, darkened by numerous dots of deeper reddish-brown and lines of various sizes, especially toward the larger end. Those in my possession, received from Labrador by Thienemann, measure from .75 to .78 of an inch in length, and from .59 to .62 in breadth, and have a light-brown or clay-colored ground, so thickly covered with spots as to be almost concealed. These spots are of a purplish chocolate-brown, with occasional darker lines about the larger end. In others the markings are bolder and larger and of brighter hues. Like the eggs of the _Anthus arboreus_ of Europe, it is probable that those of this Titlark exhibit great variations, both in ground-color and in the shades of their markings.

Anthus pratensis, BECHST.

EUROPEAN PIPIT.

_Alauda pratensis_, LINN. Syst. Nat. 1766, 287. _Anthus pratensis_, BECHST. Deutsch. Vögel, III, 1807, 732.—KEYS. & BLAS. Wirb. Europas, 1840, 172.—ZANDER, Cab. Jour. I, extraheft, 1853, 60.—PAULSEN, ed. HÖLBOLL, Faun. Grönlands, 1846, 24.—REINHARDT, Ibis, 1861, 6.—NEWTON, Baring-Gould’s Iceland, 1863.—BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 155. Figures: GOULD’S Birds Europe, pl. cxxxvi.

HAB. Europe generally; common in Lapland; accidental in Greenland; St. Michael’s, Norton Sound.

This species in general form resembles the _A. ludovicianus_, the fifth primary in both being abruptly and considerably shorter than the outer four; the bill and legs quite similar. The average size appears much the same. The upper parts are, however (especially the head and back), more distinctly streaked with dusky; the edge and inside of wing greenish-yellow, not white, and the upper plumage and outer edges of the quills decidedly olive-green. The shafts of the middle tail-feathers above are whitish, not dark brown; the under parts greenish-white, conspicuously streaked with dark brown. The bill is dusky, the base and edges paler; the legs dusky flesh-color, not dark brown.

The occurrence of this species in Greenland was noticed in the Review; and since the publication of that work a specimen has been obtained at St. Michael’s, in Alaska, by Mr. W. H. Dall, and is now in the Smithsonian collection. The specimen in question appears to be the true _pratensis_.

HABITS. This European species claims a place in the North American fauna on the ground of a single specimen having been found in Greenland, in 1845, and one at St. Michael’s, Norton Sound. In the Old World it is the counterpart of our _ludovicianus_, which, in all respects, it closely resembles. It is the most common and the best known of European Titlarks. In Great Britain, where it is found throughout the year, it appears to prefer the uncultivated districts, inhabiting commons and waste lands, and in the more northern parts frequenting the moors. It is also found in meadows and marsh lands, in winter seeking more sheltered places. It is rarely seen to alight on a branch or to sit on a rail. Its song is soft and musical, and is usually uttered when on the wing or when vibrating over its nest. It seeks its food altogether on the ground, running nimbly in pursuit of insects, slugs, and worms. According to Yarrell its nest is built on the ground, generally among the grass. It is composed externally of dried sedges, lined with finer materials and some hair. The eggs are six in number, of a reddish-brown color, mottled over with darker shades of the same, and measure .80 by .60 of an inch.

According to the observations of English naturalists, this bird resorts to various ingenious devices to conceal its nest, or to draw aside attention from it, such as feigning lameness when it is approached, and concealing it by artificial covering when it has been once discovered.

The Meadow Pipit is common during the summer months in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, visiting also the Faroe Islands and Iceland. It inhabits the whole continent of Europe as far south as Spain, Italy, and Sicily. It has also been found in Northern Africa, and, according to Gould, in Western Asia. Temminck also states it to be among the birds of Japan.

According to Degland these larks, after the breeding-season, unite in small flocks, probably families, and frequent low and damp localities. In summer they are more often found on high and dry mountain plains. Their flesh is said to be delicious.

GENUS NEOCORYS, SCLATER.

_Neocorys_, SCLATER, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. Lond. 1857, 5. (Type, _Alauda spraguei_, AUD.)

CHAR. Bill half as long as the head; the culmen concave at the base, slightly decurved at the tip. Rictus without bristles. Legs stout; tarsi distinctly scutellate, longer than the middle toe. Hind toe very long, equal to the tarsus, much longer than the middle toe; its claw but slightly curved, and about half the total length. Inner lateral toe rather longer than outer. Wings much longer than tail; first quill longest. Tertials considerably longer than secondaries. Tail rather short, emarginate.

But one species of this genus is known, it being peculiar to the Western plains.

Neocorys spraguei, SCLAT.

MISSOURI SKYLARK; SPRAGUE’S PIPIT

_Alauda spraguei_, AUD. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 335, pl. cccclxxxvi. _Agrodoma spraguei_, BAIRD, Stansbury’s Rep. 1852, 329. _Neocorys spraguei_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1857, 5.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 234.—BLAKISTON, Ibis, 1862, 4 (Saskatchewan).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 80. _Anthus (Neocorys) spraguei_, BAIRD, Rev. 155.

SP. CHAR. Above wood-brown, all the feathers edged with paler, especially on the neck, where there is a brownish-yellow tinge. The under parts are dull white, with a collar of sharply defined narrow brown streaks across the forepart and along the sides of the breast. Lores and a superciliary line whitish. Tail-feathers, except the middle ones, dark brown; the outer one white, the second white, with the inner margin brown. The outer primary is edged with white, and there are two dull whitish bands across the wings. Bill and feet yellow, the former brown above. Length (female), 5.75; wing, 3.35; tail, 2.50.

HAB. Plains of Yellowstone and Upper Missouri to Saskatchewan; Nebraska.

[Line drawing: _Neocorys spraguei._ 16766]

This little-known species has the general appearance of a Titlark, but is readily distinguished from _Anthus ludovicianus_ by the purer white of its under parts, the much darker centres and much paler margins to the feathers above, the entirely white external tail-feather, and the yellow legs and bill, as well as by its generic peculiarities. In its song and general habits it approaches nearer the European Skylark than any bird belonging to our fauna.

HABITS. This interesting species was first described by Audubon, in the supplementary portion of his Birds of America. It was obtained by the party which accompanied him to the Upper Missouri in 1843. It was first met with on the 19th of June near Fort Union, in Dacotah Territory. It has since been found on the fork of the Saskatchewan, but little additional information respecting its habits has been obtained since its first discovery.

It seems to more nearly approach, in its habits, the European Skylark than any other of our North American birds. Mr. Edward Harris was completely misled, at first, by the sound of their song, so that on several occasions he sought for them on the ground. Their voices appeared to come to him from the earth’s surface. After having travelled in quest of them, to no purpose, to many distant parts of the prairies, he at last discovered that these sounds proceeded from several of these birds soaring at so great an elevation as to make them difficult to discover by the eye, even in the transparent atmosphere of that country.

They are described as running gracefully on the ground, at times squatting to observe the movements of the intruders, and again elevating their bodies as if to meet their approach. Rising from the ground, they fly in an undulating manner, so that it is extremely difficult to shoot them on the wing. They continue thus to fly in increasing circles until about a hundred yards high, when they begin to sing. After a while, suddenly closing their wings, they drop to the ground. They could be easily approached in a light wagon, and in this manner several specimens were obtained.

Captain Blakiston (Ibis, V. 61) found this Skylark common on the prairies of the Saskatchewan during the breeding-season. He first met with it on the 6th of May, near Fort Carlton. When disturbed from the grass, its usual haunt, it utters a single chirp, and immediately mounts in the air by a circuitous course, with a very undulating flight, to a great height, where with outstretched wings it soars in a peculiar manner, and utters a very striking song. This is described as consisting of a quick succession of notes, in a descending scale, each note being lower than the preceding. The bird then descends to the ground with great rapidity, almost like a stone, and somewhat in the manner of a hawk swooping on its prey. It was difficult of approach, and not easily killed. He also observed these birds in Northern Minnesota, May 4, 1859.

A nest of this bird was built on the ground and placed in a hollow. It was made of fine grasses interwoven into a circular form, but without any lining. The eggs were four or five in number, an oblong oval in shape, much pointed at one end, and measuring .87 of an inch in length by .63 in breadth. Their ground-color was a dull white, so minutely dotted with a grayish-purple as to give the whole egg a homogeneous appearance, as of that uniform color.

The young larks, soon after being hatched, followed their parents on the ground, and were fed with seeds of the smaller plants and with insects. They had already begun to associate in small flocks of from eight to a dozen before the party left, and on the 16th of August had commenced their southern migrations.

FAMILY SYLVICOLIDÆ.—THE WARBLERS.

The _Sylvicolidæ_ are essentially characterized among the Oscines with nine primaries, by their small size, the usually slender and conical insectivorous bill, shorter than the head, without angle in the gape near the base; the toes deeply cleft so as to leave the inner one free almost to its very base (except in _Mniotiltæ_), etc. The shallow notch at the end of the tongue, instead of a deeply fissured tip, distinguishes the family from the _Cærebidæ_, to some of which there is otherwise so great a resemblance. The absence of abrupt hook and notch in both mandibles separates it from such of the _Vireonidæ_ as have nine primaries.

The American _Motacillidæ_ are distinguished from the _Sylvicolidæ_ by the emargination of the outer and the great elongation of the inner secondaries, as well as by other features referred to under that family. _Anthus_, in particular, differs in the lengthened and slightly curved hind claw. There is little difficulty in distinguishing the _Sylvicolidæ_, however, from any families excepting the slender-billed forms of the _Tanagridæ_, as _Chlorospingus_, _Nemosia_, _Chlorochrysa_, etc., and the conirostral _Cœrebidæ_. In fact, some ornithologists are inclined to include all three of the families thus mentioned in one, from the difficulty of marking their boundaries respectively.

In fact, we are of the opinion that no violence would be done by adopting this view, and would even include with the above-mentioned families the _Fringillidæ_ also. The order of their relation to one another would be thus: _Fringillidæ, Tanagridæ, Sylvicolidæ, Cœrebidæ_; there being scarcely any break in the transition between the two extremes, unless there are many genera referred to the wrong family, as seems very likely to be the case with many included in the _Tanagridæ_. The _fringilline_ forms of the latter family are such genera as _Buarremon_ and _Arremon_, they being so closely related to some _fringilline_ genera by so many features—as rounded concave wing, lax plumage, and spizine coloration—as to be scarcely separable. Either these two families are connected so perfectly by intermediate forms as to be inseparable, or the term _Tanagridæ_ covers too great a diversity of forms. With the same regularity that we proceed from the _Fringillidæ_ to the typical forms of the _Tanagridæ_ (_Pyranga_, _Tanagra_, _Calliste_, etc.), we pass down the scale from these to the _Sylvicolidæ_; while between many genera of the latter family, and others referred to the _Cærebidæ_, no difference in external anatomy can be discovered, much less expressed in a description.

In the following synopsis we attempt to define the higher groups of the _Sylvicolidæ_, although in the large number of species and their close relationships it is very difficult to express clearly their distinctive features.

Subfamilies.

A. Bill conical, its bristles very weak, or wanting.

_a._ Bill sub-conical, the culmen and commissure nearly straight.

Sylvicolinæ. Feet weak, not reaching near the end of the tail. Wing pointed, considerably longer than the nearly even or slightly emarginated tail. Feet dark-colored (except in _Helmitherus_, _Helinaia_, and _Parula_). _Arboreal._

Geothlypinæ. Feet strong, reaching nearly to end of the tail. Wing rounded. Feet pinkish-white. _Terrestrial._

_b._ Bill high and compressed, the culmen and commissure much curved.

Icterianæ. Bill without notch or rictal bristles; wing much rounded, shorter than the tail.

B. Bill depressed, its bristles strong.

Setophaginæ. Bill, _tyrannine_, considerably broader than high, the tip more or less hooked, and with a distinct notch. Rictal bristles reaching half-way, or more, to the tip.

Sections and Genera.

SYLVICOLINÆ.

1. Middle toe, with claw, longer than tarsus.

Mniotilteæ. Bill much compressed for terminal half, the lateral outline decidedly concave; culmen and gonys decidedly convex; commissure moderately concave. Rictal bristles very inconspicuous; notch just perceptible … _Mniotilta._

2. Middle toe, with claw, not longer than tarsus.

Vermivoreæ. Bill without a distinct notch, or lacking it entirely; rictal bristles wanting, or very minute; culmen and gonys nearly straight; bill only very moderately compressed.

_a._ Middle toe and claw about equal to tarsus.