386 ANTHID.E. 



out his wings and expanding his tail, he descends slowly by 

 a half-circle, singing the Avhole time, to the same branch from 

 which he started, or to the top of the nearest other tree ; and 

 so constant is this habit with him, that if the observer does 

 not approach too near to alarm him, the bird may be seen to 

 perform this same evolution twenty times in half an hour, and 

 I have witnessed it most frequently during and after a warm 

 May shower. 



The nest of this bird is placed on the ground in woods 

 and plantations, sometimes sheltered by tufts of herbage on 

 the grassy bank of a wood hedge, or under a low bush ; and 

 Mr. Neville Wood mentions one instance that occurred to 

 him, in which the nest of this bird was fixed on the lowest 

 branch of a small thick bush. The nest is formed of moss, 

 with fibrous roots and dried grass, lined with fine bents and a 

 few hairs : the eggs are four or five in number, and exhibit 

 considerable variation in colour in different nests, the most 

 characteristic, however, being of a greyish white ground co- 

 lour, clouded and spotted with purple brown, or purple red ; 

 the length of the egg about ten lines, by eight lines in di- 

 ameter. Like the Wagtails and Larks, the Pipits walk and 

 run on the ground : and the food of this species is insects and 

 worms. 



The Tree Pipit is found in all the wooded and cultivated 

 districts of the southern counties of England ; but is seldom 

 found in any open unenclosed country. It is comparatively 

 rare in CornAvall ; not very numerous in either South or North 

 Wales ; and some doubts are still entertained whether it ex- 

 tends its range to Ireland. North of London it is common 

 in the parts of those counties which are congenial to its 

 habits ; Mr. Neville Wood says it is abundant in the shel- 

 tered and cultivated parts of Derbyshire ; and ]\lr. Selby 

 includes it among the birds of Durham and Northumberland, 

 as a summer visiter, making its first appearance every season 

 in May. 



