264 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



stone so completely, that if it were not for its faint 

 notes uttered intermittently it might easily be 

 passed by. If the nest be approached, the parent 

 bird displays no undue anxiety, but remains sitting 

 inconspicuously upon some rock or stone, piping 

 softly until at length the intruder has withdrawn. 

 At these times the notes appear to have some ven- 

 triloquial quality, for at one moment they sound 

 close at hand, and at another they reach the ear as 

 though from some far distance. 



In some of the more remote parts of Scotland these 

 birds are exceptionally tame, rising at one's feet to 

 alight again on the grass barely a few yards away. 

 I have known birds with their powers of flight fully 

 developed, j^ermit themselves to be caught with a 

 landing-net. 



Like the Tree Pipit, this species sings upon the 

 wing, and in the early days of the nesting season 

 may be seen making short excursions into the air 

 and at once descending, singing the while, to the 

 ground or to some rock. 



Although the Titlark may occasionally perch on 

 a bush or the bough of a tree, its more usual rest- 

 ing-place is a wall or stone or some grassy tussock 

 on the heath. As, in the moorlands especially, it 

 is the commonest of the insectivorous birds, its nest 

 is constantly selected by the Cuckoo for the foisting 

 of her alien egg. Whether the parent Titlarks 

 resent the intrusion of the Cuckoo to their nest, or 

 whether they merely mistake her for a hawk, can- 

 not be clearly known, but it is certain that they 

 protest against her coming with the utmost vehe- 

 mence, flying excitedly about her, and filling the air 



