The Meadow-Pipit. 



The Tree-Pipit. 



Perching Birds. 



appearance as the 

 Yellow Wagtail, 

 but distinguished 

 by its blue-grey 

 head and broad 

 white eyebrow. The 

 females and young 

 birds can, however, 

 scarcely be told 

 from those of Ray's 

 Wagtail. M.Jiava 

 is an accidental 

 visitor to Great 

 Britain, but has 

 been known to 

 breed in Northum- 

 berland, and pro- 

 bably occurs more 



frequently than is supposed. Like its relative, M. cainpestris, it winters both in 

 Western and South-eastern Africa, but it otherwise enjoys a much wider ran^e 

 extending across Siberia to the Pacific, and wintering as far south as the Moluccas 

 and in the peninsula of India. In habits and its mode of nidification it does not 

 differ from those of the Yellow Wagtail. 



THE T\\\B is a very elegant little bird, in appearance like a Lark, but 



TREE-PIPIT. more trim and brighter looking. All the Pipits have a more or less 



{Anthus Lark-like plumage, being brown streaked with black, and paler under- 



tnvialis.) neath, with blackish streaks on the breast. The Tree-Pipit is 



distinguished from the Meadow-Pipit and the other British species by its curved hind 



claw: it is also much less of a ground bird than the other Pipits. 



The present species breeds over the greater part of Europe, as far as the Valley of 

 the Yenesei, but it only nests on the mountains of Southern Europe. Its winter 

 home is in Northern and North-eastern Africa, and in Western India. It is locally 

 distributed throughout England, but becomes gradually rarer in Scotland, and is 

 scarcely known in Ireland. The Tree- Pipit may often be observed on the outskirts 

 of woods and plantations, flying up from the trees and bushes into the air, and 

 descending spirally to its perch or to the ground, and singing melodiously all the 

 while. Its food consists chiefl}' of insects, and it also frequents the neighbourhood 

 of cattle on the pastures, to catch flies like the Wagtails, and it has the same 

 dipping motion of the tail as in the latter birds. The nest is a simple structure 

 of dried grass or rootlets, with a lining of fine grass or horsehair, and is always 

 placed on the ground. The eggs are from four to seven in number, and vary 



3* 



