THE TREE PIPIT. 117 



Wood, and by the side of the Lambden Burn ^ near Antons- 

 hill.^ It is recorded by Mr. Kelly as apparently increasing 

 in Lauderdale.^ Mr. John Thomson informs me that it 

 nests at Cowdenknowes. I observed it amongst the old 

 trees at Dryburgh Abbey, on the occasion of the visit of the 

 Berwickshire Naturalists' Club to that beautiful and romantic 

 spot on the 30th of June 1886, and a few days later — on the 

 6th of July — I noticed it in the Eetreat Woods. 



The song of the Tree Pipit is varied and sweet, and it 

 often sings when in the air, as well as when sitting on the top 

 of a tree. My attention was attracted one morning in June 

 1873, to the peculiar manner in which the bird sings when 

 on the wing, for it flew up a short distance into the air from 

 the top of a tree near my house, on which it was sitting, 

 and then extended its wings backwards like a pigeon, and 

 came slowly down to its perch, singing all the time until it 

 alighted. Its food consists of insects and small seeds. 



The nest, which is placed on the ground, is usually found 

 amongst rough grass, and often near the root of a tree. It 

 is built of moss, dry grass, and roots, lined with hair. The 

 eggs, which are from four to six in number, vary much in 

 colour, but they are generally greyish white, very closely 

 spotted over with reddish brown. 



The Tree Pipit is very like the Meadow Pipit in appear- 

 ance, but a distinguishing mark of the former, when in the 

 hand, is that the claw of the hind toe is slightly arched, and 

 shorter than the toe itself, while in the latter the hind claw 

 is as long as the toe. 



1 There is a popular rhyme in Berwickshire to the effect that 



" The hooks and crooks o' Lambden Burn 

 Fill the bowie and fill the kirn." 

 Db. Henderson's Popular Rhymes of Bei'wickshire. 



2 Hist. Bcr. Nat. Club, vol. vii. p. 280 ; vol. ix. pp. 10, 554 ; vol. x. p. 251. 



3 Ibid. vol. viii. p. 144. 



