TREE AND MEADOW PIPITS 87 



bird was the redpoll. Next to it, strange to say, was 

 the meadow-pipit. This bird behaved in every way 

 like the tree-pipit, being occasionally seen on the 

 ground, but mostly up in the trees ; sometimes singing 

 on the ground, sometimes when on the wing, but oftener 

 in the branches overhead. 



We had just decided that these birds were, or ought 

 to be, tree-pipits, when we shot down half a dozen from 

 among the branches, and finally satisfied ourselves that 

 they were the meadow-pipit. Our astonishment was 

 still greater, however, when we beheld three gulls quietly 

 perched upon the top of a tall birch in the wood. We 

 watched them for some time, examining them through 

 our glasses ; at last they rose and flew over our heads, 

 and by their cry we recognised them to be the familiar 

 Larus canus. Shortly afterwards we shot one. 



Fieldfares and redwings were sprinkled through the 

 woods ; we could almost always hear the song of the 

 latter bird, as well as the loose cry of the former, and 

 its starling-like note before alighting. My companions 

 saw a couple of redstarts chasing each other, and I 

 followed a willow-wren, which was in full song, for at 

 least an hour, but did not succeed in shooting it. Many 

 white wagtails flew past, and reed-buntings were also 

 common. Where the birches were largest we heard the 

 tapping of woodpeckers. We shot a pair of Siberian lesser 

 spotted woodpeckers (/^. pipra. Pall.); and of a pair of 

 three-toed woodpeckers that we saw we succeeded in 

 shooting the male. We also shot a pair of marsh-tits. 



When I returned on the morning of the 20th after a 

 five hours' solitary ramble in the woods, I found the 

 sportsmen still fast asleep. My entrance roused them, 

 and we soon proceeded to make tea. We were sitting- 

 down to our pipes after our late breakfast, when we were 



