PASSERES. 



MEADOW-PIPTT, 



575 

 MOTACILLIDjE. 



Anthus pratensis (Linnffius*). 

 THE MEADOW-PIPIT. 



Anthus pratensis. 



The Meadow-Pipit, best known generally as the Tit- 

 lark f — though it has many other local names, is the 

 smallest and commonest species of the genus, and is found 

 in the British Islands throughout the year. It chiefly fre- 

 quents pastures, waste lands and the less cultivated districts, 

 being equally at home on upland moors, low-lying marshes, 

 and meadows be they wet or dry, so that there is scarcely 

 a rural parish in the three kingdoms of which it is not an 

 inhabitant. Observations fail to shew whether there is any 

 elevation in Scotland at which it does not occur, but accord- 



* Alauda pratensis, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 287 (176G). 



•y This name is commonly applied according to the locality to whichever 

 species of Anthus is there most abundant, so that it is really almost equivalent 

 to Pipit. Among the local names of the present species, Titling, Moss-cheeper, 

 Ling-bird, Teetick and (in Keri'y, according to Thompson) Wekeen, may be 

 mentioned. 



