352 THE MEADOW PIPIT. 



dark brown ; female similar. It is a true St Andrean, and 

 may be seen at all times of the year. On December 16th, 

 after a fortnight's hard frost, I saw five of them and two 

 wagtails alight in the Swilcan burn, and gleefully flutter and 

 wash themselves in the shallow stream — the wintry sun 

 shining brightly on their bath. And to show they are closely 

 allied to the wagtails, on the 18th of October I saw a dozen 

 wagtails and pipits running and catching flies together on the 

 sands near this burn ; the sun was shining, and the flies in 

 abundance. A wagtail and a pipit alighted on an old branch 

 lying in the burn, and I noted that the pipit wagged its tail up 

 and down the same as the wagtail. 



The Meadow Pipit, Tit-Lark, or Titling. 



( Antlius Pratensis.) Bechst. 



" The little floweret's peaceful lot 

 In yonder grove that grows, 

 Which, save the linnet's flight, I wot, 

 Nae ruder visit knows. "— Bums. 



This plain-dressed, handsome little bird is more common 

 than the last, and is found on hilly moorland as well as benty 

 flats skirting the seashore ; its grassy nest and dark brown eggs 

 are well known to every nest-hunting schoolboy as the sea- 

 weetftt, and also to that unindustrious slattern the cuckoo, 

 who, to save itself making a nest and rearing its young, often 

 selects the little titling's nest to put her eggs in. One reason 

 is both birds prefer open moors, like Tentsmuir, which provide 

 an ample supply of Lepidopterous larvae and insects suitable to 

 both, while the open nest proves a temptation to make the 

 pipit a cuckold. It makes its beautiful cup-like nest on the 

 ground, under a tuft of bent or grass ; it is lined with dry 

 grass as fine as horse hair — some of which being sometimes 

 used in the lining. It lays four and five eggs in April, dark 

 brown, freckled with still darker spots — amongst the darkest 

 eggs we have. Often, when searching for eider duck's and 

 other wild birds' eggs on Tentsmuir, I have got their nests in 

 the middle of the muir. On May 2nd I got two with four 

 fresh eggs each ; one of the nests was lined entirely with fine 



