MEADOW PIPIT. 203 



than any of the toes, hallux produced, claw 

 lengthened, and slightly bent. A. pratensis. 

 Cosmopolite. 



The Anthi were formerly associated with the 

 larks, with which they had been artificially con- 

 sidered as allied by the form and length of the 

 hinder claw. The habits of many are so far 

 aquatic, that they delight in moist meadow lands, 

 marshes, or the vicinity of the sea shore, but they 

 do not possess that decided character which marks 

 Motacilla as the true aquatic type of the sub- 

 family. All our British species wholly or partially 

 migrate, and at certain seasons they may be met 

 with in flocks. The general colours of the 

 plumage are chaste and unobtrusive, consisting 

 of shades of oil green above, and on the lower 

 surface they are marked and streaked in the 

 manner of the Thrushes, and of the American 

 genus Seiurus. Several foreign species are so 

 closely allied with those of this country, as to be 

 with difficulty separated ; but our natives are all 

 easily distinguished from each other, representing, 

 as it were, the form in the different and peculiar 

 localities which they frequent. They breed on 

 the ground. The most common and widely dis- 

 tributed species is 



THE MEADOW PIPIT ANTHUS PRATENSIS, 

 Pechstein. Alauda pratensis> Will. Ray, Linn. 

 Titlark and Meadow Pipit of modern British 



