488 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



there is a great difference between the two groups, since the pipits molt twice a year, 

 while larks only molt once. The pipits are nearly cosmopolitan, several Old World 

 species being figured in the accompanying cut, and are pretty well represented in 

 America. The Old World tree-pipit (^4. trivialis) deserves special notice, since its 

 arboreal habits are an exception to the rest of the species. Of other exotic forms 

 we shall only mention the Ethiopian genus Macronyx, remarkable for its large feet, 

 and especially interesting for its most extraordinary external resemblance to the dif- 



FIG. 238. Enicurus leschenaulti, Leschenault's fork-tail. 



ferent species of the American meadow-larks (Sturndla), of quite another and remote 

 family, a likeness which is nearly as striking as that of the typical pipits and larks, 

 the more curious since we find species (for instance, M. croceus) which represent the 

 yellow style of our North American meadow-lark, with black breast-patch, alongside 

 another form, M. amelice, from Natal, which assumes the pinkish under-surface of 

 Sturnella deftlippii, of South America. 



The wag-tails proper (Motacilla) structurally agree very well with the pipits, but 



