THE MEADOW PIPIT. 



(Anthus pratensis.) 



PREMISING that attention is not confined 

 to species which are British, it is gene- 

 rally admitted by ornithologists that the Pipits 

 are a difficult group to identify. They are sub- 

 ject to such variation in size and colour that 

 it has often happened that one and the same 

 species has been described four or five times as 

 new, under as many new names. Gradually, 

 however, as the researches of naturalists become 

 extended, and the transport of specimens from 

 various quarters of the globe is facilitated, the 



