seal 
VIT.—Remarks. 
The Pipits, compared with most birds of other genera, might be described by a series ot 
negatives, since they have no special grace, nor brightness, nor anything remarkable in 
language and habits to distinguish them. Small, modest-coloured birdlings, shy of disposition, 
passing most of their time concealed among the grass, heather, and bracken in pasture lands 
and untilled or waste places, they are not familiar to our sight like the birds of the 
homestead, orchard, and field, and appear to have no special attraction. Yet in some ways 
they are exceedingly interesting, and are not without a charm of their own. 
One striking fact concerning the Pipits is the close resemblance of one species to 
another. The Linnet and Twite among Finches, and the Chiffchaff and Willow-Wren among 
Leaf- Warblers, are not nearly so much alike as two 
Pipits. And this likeness, which formerly made it 
dificult for our ornithologists to distinguish one 
from another of our British species, is not confined 
to the birds of our islands. The genus, or group 
(as it might be called) has an exceedingly wide 
range. Indeed the Pipits are almost cosmopolitan, 
since with the exception of the Polynesian sub- 
region, which includes all the tropical islands of 
the Pacific, they ave found in all regions of the 
earth. Yet in all climates and situations they are 
seen to be very much alike in size, form, colouring, 
language, flight, and hfe habits. This wide dis- 
tribution and strong family likeness shows that 
the Pipits have existed almost without change 
tor a very long period on the earth. 
In appearance the Pipits are small Larks, hence 
the common country name of Titlark for these birds, ROCK PIPI?. 
and sometimes of Wood Lark for the Tree Pipit. a. : 
The early English ornithologists described the Meadow Pipit as the Lesser Field Lark ; and 
Linneus and his followers included the Pipits and Larks in the genus Alauda. But the re- 
semblance is only superficial. In the more permanent characters—structure, moult, ete.—on 
which our modern systems are based, the two genera are unlike; and the Pipits have been 
removed from their neighbourhood to the Larks and placed alongside the Wagtails. This may 
at first seem a very arbitrary arrangement; but in the study of birds, as of many another 
subject, we are eventually brought, however reluctantly, to accept the truth that things are not 
what they seem. In their structure Pipits and Wagtails are alike, and if we closely observejthese 
two widely different birds we do perceive a faint family likeness, albeit one is so inferior in 
lustre. The finer bird has undoubtedly sprung from a humble Pipit progenitor. Certain birds of 
brilliant plumage and aérial habits have been called “ winged gems” and “ jewels of ornitho- 
logy,” and we may regard the Pipit as the original material, the rough pebble, which in the 
Wagtail has been cut to a finer shape and polished. We may see the Wagtail in the Pipit’s 
slender bill and elongated form, in the pattern of his wing colour, the habit of moving his tail 
up and down, and in the swift, undulating, and often erratic flight. These characters have 
been intensified in the larger, brighter more volatile bird; his tail has become longer, his 
music louder, more impetuous and Warbler like, and to all has been added an exquisite 
fairy-like grace in his motions which is wholly his own. 
Personally I have a great liking for the simple, obscure Pipit—greater than for some 
finer birds. I find in his appearance a pretty quaintness which is very attractive. But I 
esteem him most for his yoice, which on some spring and summer days, in certain states of 
the atmosphere, produces a unique and beautiful effect. On extensive solitary moors in 
Scotland and the north of England, in boggy or marshy places, and on the south downs, 
especially on the Dorsetshire coast, where the Meadow Pipit is extremely abundant I have 
