Oil Moorlands and Roughs. 47 



pretty complete. Meadow Pipits always give us 

 the impression of being somewhat sad little birds, 

 taking life very seriously, as even human dwellers 

 on these moorland solitudes are apt to do. We may 

 illustrate this by a comparison of the cheery Wren 

 with these Pipits, and then the reader will quite 

 understand our meaning. The melancholy com- 

 plaining note of the Meadow Pipit is one of the 

 most characteristic small -bird notes on the moors 

 between April and October. Every marshy spot 

 is almost certain to contain a pair or more of them, 

 and their nests are the favourite nursery of the 

 Cuckoo. The song of this species is a pleasing one, 

 uttered as the bird descends from a short flight into 

 the air. All through the genial days of a moorland 

 spring the birds may be watched rising and falling, 

 shuttlecock-like, from the heath and cotton-grass. 

 Then, when the nesting season is past, the young 

 and old join into flocks of varying size and betake 

 themselves to the lower ground, appearing in 

 autumn in large numbers in turnip fields and 

 potato patches. The breeding season of this Pipit 

 varies considerably according to latitude. On the 

 southern uplands, in Devonshire for instance, the 

 nest is made in April; in the Highlands it is from 

 one to two months later. The migrational move- 

 ments are about the same date in Yorkshire as they 

 are in Devonshire ; and the journey extends in both 



