578 MOTACILLID/E. 



by the bird itself*. The same gentleman once introduced 

 the egg of a Hedge- Sparrow into a Meadow-Pipit's nest, 

 containing two of its own eggs ; but after a third egg was laid, 

 the nest was abandoned. Whether the desertion in this in- 

 stance was induced by the visits of the observer or by the in- 

 troduction of the strange egg, differing so much in colour from 

 those of the owner of the nest, cannot be determined, but it 

 is certain that the egg of the Cuckow is very frequently 

 deposited and hatched in the nest of the Meadow-Pipit, and 

 the former bird can scarcely shew itself in the haunts of the 

 latter without exciting its animosity and being followed by it 

 with plaintive cries to a considerable distance. 



The Meadow-Pipit is extremely abundant in the Faroes 

 and is common also during summer in Iceland, while a 

 single example is recorded by Dr. Paulsen from Greenland. 

 It inhabits the whole of the European continent, taking a 

 very high northern range, and breeding in some numbers on 

 the wildest fells of Lapland ; but there as well as throughout 

 a great part of Central Europe it is strictly a summer- 

 visitor, while in the south it resorts to the higher lauds at 

 that time of year, only appearing on the plains in winter 

 or during its passage, in spring and autumn, from or to the 

 coast of North Africa. In that quarter of the globe, however, 

 it has never been found far to the south, and is of rare 

 occurrence, says.Capt. Shelley, in Egypt and Nubia. In 

 Palestine, according to Canon Tristram, it occurs in small 

 numbers in winter everywhere, and in favourable localities 

 up to midsummer, so that it may probably be resident in 

 that country. Further eastward, as Mr. Dresser remarks, 

 its limits are not easily defined, but it is recorded from 

 Trebizond and Tiflis. Lehmann obtained it on the moun- 

 tains of Indersk and Mr. Blanford procured it at Persepolis. 

 Mr. Gould long ago had seen it from Western India, and deter- 

 mined a specimen from Siam, while more lately Mr. Hume 

 has obtained it at Ferozpoor ; but nothing can be said 



This inference is perhaps open to doubt, but a simihir circumstance, recorded 

 by Ijlyth of the Skylark, as will presently be mentioned (page 617) renders it 

 not unlikely. 



