I9I2. Patten. — Tree-Pipit on the Tiiskar Rock. 2ii 



be a Tree -Pipit, so exactly did it answer to the description 

 given by this rehable writer. Moreover, I am famihar 

 with the appearance of the Tree -Pipit at Sheffield, where 

 the bird is common in summer. 



Without delay I proceeded to obtain a photograph of the 

 bird in the flesh, and exactly on the spot of the rock where I 

 first picked it up. The bird was lying somewhat in the position 

 depicted in the illustration, (Plate 4 a), the left leg and wing 

 being broken were displaced outward and lay pendant. This 

 convenient pose shows not only the short hind-claw in pro- 

 file, but also the tip of the same resting on the long inner 

 secondary feathers of the wing. The latter, it will be 

 noticed, are as long as the primaries, while in the case of 

 the Meadow-Pipit they are usually a shade shorter, though 

 indeed I have found considerable variation in this direction, 

 and would not lay too much stress on this point. The 

 two outer feathers of the tail are spread to show the 

 characteristic pattern of the brown and white markings. 

 In the second outer feather there is less white than is usually 

 found in that of the Meadow-Pipit. Here, again, the testis 

 not absolute, indeed I have found much variation in the extent 

 of the white of the second outer tail-quill in the Meadow- 

 Pipit. I next photographed the Tree-Pipit and Meadow- 

 Pipit side by side, using a white background, and I posed 

 both birds alike. (Plate 4 a, b.) A glance at the illustration 

 will show the distinctive characters of the two species 

 which I have already pointed out. The following par- 

 ticulars I have made out in regard to this interesting 

 specim_en : — Length — 15 '85 cm. Wing — 8* 4 cm. Weight — 

 5 drams and 48 grains. Condition — Very good, much fat 

 present. Gizzard — Quite empty. Plumage — Moulting 

 from first autumn to first winter garb. Age — Immature ; 

 bird of the year. Sex — Female. 



At 9 a.m. on Sunday, September 22nd last, the weather 

 being fine, and a fresh E.S.E. wind blowing, I obtained 

 a second Tree-Pipit on the Tuskar Rock, and as in the case 

 of the capture of the first specimen I was not at all sure 

 what the bird was until it came to hand. Unhke the 

 first Tree-Pipit, which remained quietly looking at me 

 from the one spot where it alighted, this second bird, 



a2 



