AMERICAN PIPIT. Anthus rubescens (Tunstall)

Field characters.—About size of Junco; body and bill both slender. Upper surface of body plain dark brown; under surface pale brown or buffy, narrowly streaked with dusky on breast and sides; white margin on tail, showing well in flight. On ground bird walks with fore-and-aft movement of head in unison with tread of feet; tail moves up and down, but not in time with feet. Voice: Call note a shrill see, see, seep, given 3 to 5 times, usually just as bird takes to wing; song rarely heard in our latitudes.

Occurrence.—Common winter visitant along west base of Sierra Nevada. Observed at Snelling and Lagrange and reported from Smith Creek, east of Coulterville, and from Yosemite Valley. Observed near crest of mountains and on east slope during fall months. Keeps to open lands or sparsely grassed fields, especially moist ones; never seeks thick or high vegetation of any sort. In scattering flocks of up to 50 individuals.

The American Pipit is a well-known winter visitor to the lowlands of the west and as such is to be found on the plains and open foothills at the western end of the Yosemite section. There, from October until March, it may be sought wherever the grass is scant enough for the birds to run about unhindered. It is thus frequently to be found on the same ground as the Horned Lark, and comparison shows that the two have much in common with regard to both structure and mode of life.

Pipits are sometimes called "wag-tails" because of the almost incessant up-and-down movement of the tail when they are on the ground. When walking or running, the bird also makes a fore-and-aft pecking movement of the head, in unison with the tread of its feet; this is more vigorous when the birds are moving rapidly. The head movement is thus timed rather evenly, but the tail motion is irregular, and practiced whether the pipit be standing still or walking.

The dun-colored plumage of the pipit matches so well the brown earth on which the bird forages while in our latitudes, that the observer often has difficulty in keeping the object of his interest in sight. On plowed ground the difficulty is increased as the many irregularities in the surface afford the bird opportunities to pass behind clods or into furrows and become lost to view.

When running or foraging the pipit is usually silent, but just before taking to wing the birds as a rule utter several short and sharp notes. Then they spring into the air, flashing as they rise the white outer margins of the tail. Unless badly frightened a bird will usually circle about one or more times and then return almost to the spot whence it arose. Safety is sought first by running, and then in flight. The pipit, like most other plains dwellers, never seeks shelter in dense vegetation.

The greatest number of pipits seen at any one time was fully fifty in one flock observed near Snelling on January 8, 1915. East of the mountains they were encountered in small numbers. Near Williams Butte one was seen in flight over a pasture, on September 23, 1915. Three days later, at an altitude of 10,000 feet near the head of Warren Fork, 2 were flushed from a 'buffalo-grass' meadow. Their call notes and actions were just like those seen on the west slope. There was nothing to lead to the belief that they were more than passing transients there. In Yosemite Valley small flocks of pipits were noted by Mr. C. W. Michael (MS) on November 5, 12, and 13, 1920.