TREE-PIPIT. 571 



expanding bis tail and letting his legs hang straight down, 

 he descends slowly by a half-circle, singing the whole time, 

 to the same branch, or to the top of some other tree near by, 

 without ever alighting on the ground meanwhile ; so constant 

 is this habit with him, that if the observer does not ai^proach 

 too near to alarm him, the bird may be seen to perform this 

 same evolution twenty times in half an hour, and it is most 

 frequently witnessed during and after a warm May or June 

 shower. 



It is hard to say when English writers first distinguished 

 this species from the next with which it was long confounded. 

 Yet the credit seems due to Willughby's correspondent, 

 Jessop of Sheffield, who, without being certain, suspected 

 that they were distinct and concisely gave it a true diagnosis, 

 namely its larger size, its less green colour, its paler legs and 

 its shorter hind claws. Eay also in his translation of 

 Willughby's work quotes from an English author, whom he 

 does not name and the Editor has failed to identify, a correct 

 description of the peculiar song-flight of the Tree-Pipit. But 

 none of these writers went the length of declaring it to be 

 distinct, while Pennant, in 1768, from a specimen sent him 

 by Mr. Plymly, did so, calling it the Field-Lark. Yet after 

 his time much confusion existed, and thorough investigation 

 of the errors of various writers — some of whom most un- 

 accountably mixed it up with the Grasshopper- Warbler, would, 

 even if that were possible, certainly not repay the trouble, 

 seeing that it was unmistakably described by Linnfeus, 

 evidently from his own observation, though his name for it 

 has been most unfairly overlooked. 



The nest is placed on the ground near woods or plantations, 

 very frequently at the foot of a detached tree, and is some- 

 times sheltered by tufts of herbage on the grassy bank of a 

 hedge, or under a low bush. It is built of moss, with fibrous 

 roots and dry grass, lined with fine bents and a few hairs : 

 the eggs are from four to six in number, and exhibit so much 

 variation that a whole page of description would scarcely 

 suffice to give a complete account of them. A series of three- 

 score specimens not especially selected for the purpose may 



