MEADOW-PIPIT.— RED-THROATED PIPIT. 101 



dimensions of a dozen of the ordinary Meadow-Pipits* are || 

 by 1^. I never remember finding a whole clutch of the eggs 

 of any other bird in which all were of an abnormal size. 



I went to the spot a few days after to see what were the 

 materials of the nest, but it had been pulled out and blown 

 away by the wind. If it be dwarf, it is the only wild bird I 

 have ever met with in that state. 



In the 'Zoologist/ p. 1561 (s. s.) is the following notice 

 by Mr. Wonfor : — " A very minute specimen, in perfect 

 plumage, was obtained on November 9th near Cliftonville, 

 Brighton, and was taken to Swaysland. Fi'om its size and 

 general appearance, thinking it a new species, he sent it to 

 Mr. Sclater, who pronounced it a dwarf. It measures five 

 inches and one eighth from beak to tail." 



The ordinary note of the Meadow-Pipit is " Tit, tit, tit,^' 

 uttered while flitting from place to place. During the breed- 

 ing season it has a pleasant song, low and soft, which it 

 utters on the wing, rising some thirty feet in the air, and 

 descending, with quivering wings and tail fully spread, to the 

 ground. 



RED-THROATED PIPIT. 



Afitlms cervinus. 



This beautiful species, which had, for a long while, been con- 

 founded with the preceding, was included as a "^ British Bird" 

 by Mr. Harting and Mr. Gould on evidence that to many 

 ornithologists seemed inconckisive, though they fully ad- 

 mitted that it was one which, sooner or later, was likely to 

 appear in Britain. The first example about which no doubt 

 could exist was brought to Mr. Swaysland, of Brighton, on 

 March 13th, 1884, and on the next day was seen in the flesh 



