354 THE TREE PIPIT. 



knew the reason, but they sought the remedy ; and in these 

 degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage, which they 

 will climb incontinent or else be incontinent before marriage ; 

 they are in the very wrath of love, and they will together ; 

 clubs cannot part them." He sings on the top of a tree (hence 

 its name), or on wing as he slowly descends to the twig from 

 whence he had risen. It is like the rock or meadow pipit, but 

 superior. When rising from the tree he does not begin to sing 

 until at his greatest height, only emitting the short twitter 

 of tsee, tsee ; but no sooner at his height than, like pride or 

 ambition, he slowly descends and sings with wide-spread, 

 motionless wings, and expanded, upturned tail, to the twig 

 from which he arose, and does the same from the tree to the 

 ground, but he seldom alights on the ground before alighting on 

 a tree, hence the "tree pipit;" and never, like the others, 

 or the lark, rises from the ground to sing. It makes its nest 

 at the root of a tree, under a tuft of herbage or small bush, of 

 moss, slender roots, and dry grass, lined with finer grass, and 

 sometimes horsehair ; eggs, four or five, which vary in size and 

 colour more than most birds. Some are purplish-grey, spotted 

 with brown ; others flesh-coloured, spotted with black ; and 

 others pink, freckled over with dark red ; more like those of the 

 buntings than the pipits, and form the connecting link. They 

 are larger than the meadow pipit's, J by |. The nest is seldom 

 far from trees or brushwood, usually on a grassy bank on the 

 margin of a wood, if there be single trees, on which it delights 

 to perch. In such a situation you are pretty sure to find it at 

 the end of May, also in open woods by the side of a drive 

 or footpath. It is ill to find, as it is cunningly concealed, and 

 the bird cowers and runs several yards when it leaves or enters 

 it. The females of all the pipits resemble the males. Like 

 the rest it runs with ease in search of insects and worms. As 

 water birds are divided into waders, swimmers, divers, and 

 plungers, I think our land birds might be classified as scrapers, 

 hoppers, runners, and perchers. There is another, called 

 Richard's pipit, about the same size and colour, but as it is 

 very rare in the south of England, and as I never identified 

 it about St Andrews, I merely note it as a British bird. It 

 also makes its nest on the ground, and has all the habits of the 

 rest. The next family in this order of the lnsessores is 



