RAYS WAGTAIL. 171 



sweet song, something like that of the Redbreast when at 

 its best. This I have heard it utter whilst it was perched 

 on a low bush overhanging a pond. Its nest was probably 

 somewhere in the neighbourhood, for when disturbed it 

 flew to a short distance only, alighted on another twig, and 

 repeated its warble again. This was in the first week in 

 May, and is the only occasion on which I ever heard it 

 really sing. The nest resembles that of the Pied Wagtail, 

 and is placed on the ground, usually in pea-fields. The 

 popular name Washerwoman belongs to the whole family. 

 The corresponding term, Lavandiere, is also found in 

 France, and was given from the fanciful similarity between 

 the beating of the water with its tail by the bird while 

 tripping along the leaves of a water-lily, and the beating 

 of linen in the water by washerwomen, a custom still 

 existing in France, and some parts of England and Ireland. 



THE TREE PIPIT. 



ANTHUS ARB6REUS. 



Hind claw shorter than the toe, and curved so as to form the fourth of a circle ; 

 upper parts ash, tinged with olive, the centre of each feather dark brown ; a 

 double band across the Aving, formed by the yellowish white tips of the lesser 

 and middle wing -coverts ; throat and region of the eye dull white : breast 

 reddish yellow, spotted, and at the sides lightly streaked with dark brown. 

 Length six inches. Eggs dull white, variously mottled with purple brown. 



The name Titlark is popularly applied to three common 

 species of birds which were formerly placed in the same 

 family with the Skylark. Modern ornithologists now place 

 them in a distinct genus, the characters of which differ from 

 those of the true Lark in that the beak is more slender and 

 slightly notched near the point, the first three quills are 

 nearly of the same length, and the outer toe is united with 

 the middle one as far as the first joint. In colouring, how- 

 ever, in general form, and, to a slight extent, in habits, 

 namely, in the mode of feeding and nesting, there is much 

 similarity between the genera ; but in the power of soaring, 

 the Lark, though imitated by one species, is unrivalled, 



