_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.
[Illustration: _Anthus ludovicianus._]
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.