TREE PIPIT. 131 



distribution, for in the higher dales affording the necessary 

 woody environment it is quite as common as in the low 

 cultivated districts. 



The average date of its departure from south Yorkshire 

 was calculated by the late Thomas Lister to be the 

 22nd of September, and the late J. Cordeaux stated (MS.), 

 " After the nesting season they congregate into small flocks, 

 leaving in August and September, occasionally migrating 

 with Meadow Pipits." The observations communicated to 

 the British Association Migration Committee do not afford 

 much information as to this movement, which takes place 

 quietly and unobtrusively, this bird being not easily 

 distinguished by the light-keepers from others of its genus. 

 The only entries relating to it are : " Spurn, August 20th 

 to September loth, Common " (Sixth Report, p. 47) ; and 

 " Spurn, September I4th, Tree Pipits, etc." (Seventh Report, 

 p. 32). An unusually late date for its autumn passage 

 was mentioned by Edward Blyth, who recorded in Rennie's 

 " Field Naturalist " (1833, p. 466), the capture of Tree Pipits, 

 among other species, on board a vessel when fourteen miles 

 off Whitby, on the 7th of October 1833. 



In reference to the great diversity of colouring in this 

 bird's eggs, I have noticed that the red and pink types much 

 outnumber the other variable colours met with, though the 

 reverse is considered to be the case in Holderness. Instances 

 of six eggs in a clutch are not uncommon, and Mr. F. Graves 

 found one in the Sedbergh district containing the unusual 

 number of seven. 



This bird, as stated above, is the Lesser Crested Lark 

 of Willughby. Local Yorkshire names are Tree Lark and 

 Titlark, used generally. Bulking Lark is a term applied to 

 it at Thirsk (Morris's Nat. 1854, P- I0 5)> while Wood Lark and 

 Bank Lark are in use in Cleveland and Ribblesdale. It may, 

 however, be observed that it is not usually distinguished 

 from the Meadow Pipit which frequently alights on trees. 



