82 BROWN BIRDS WITH SPOTTED BREASTS. 



Pipit, with the difference that tlie Tree-Pipit starts 

 from and returns to his perch in the tree, whilst the 

 Meadow-Pipit ascends from and descends to the 

 ground. 



MEADOW-PIPIT— 5f inches; plumage duller and crest 

 rounded ; seldom perches on trees. Song, metallic 'Seeng!' 

 repeated with increasing speed during song-flight. 



ROCK-PIPIT— 6i inches ; a coast-bird only ; outer tail- 

 featliers dusky brown. 



SKYLARK — 7 inches ; only exceptionally settles on trees. 

 Song, a prolonged carolling. 



WOODLARK — 6 inches ; short tail ; dusky outer tail- 

 feathers ; rounded crest. Although also a singer from 

 tree-perch, maintains a prolonged carolling whilst soaring 

 in the manner of the Skylark. 



ROCK-PIPIT.— Form, like the Meadow-Pipit (plate 

 34). Length, 6^ inches. Upper parts olive-brown, 

 with dark centres to the feathers ; wing and tail 

 feathers dark brown ; under parts whitish, with dark 

 spots and streaks on the breast. Resident. 



Eg"gs. — 4-5, greenish-gray, mottled all over with 

 ashy- brown ; -8 ^ '6 inch. There is also a reddish 

 variety (plate 125). 



Nest. — Of dry grass and seaweed, lined with finer 

 grass, and placed on the ground among grass or bush 

 growth on cliff- ledges. 



Distribution.— General around the rocky parts of 

 the coasts of the British Islands. 



The Rock-Pipit is the largest and most solidly 

 built of the Pipits, but is most readily identified by 

 the facts that it is exclusively a bird of the coast, 

 and has not the conspicuous white outer tail-feathers 



