110 



BRITISH BIRDS 



on a weed or low bush ; but on moors, hills, and stony waste lands 

 he prefers a stone or mound of earth for a perch. From such an 

 elevation he is able to keep watch on the movements of his mate. 

 and, when the singing spirit takes him, to launch himself easily on 

 the air. To sing he soars up to a height of forty feet or more, then 

 glides gracefully down, with tail spread and wings half -closed and 

 motionless, presenting the figure of a barbed arrow-head. In his 

 descent he emits a series of notes with little or no variation in 

 them, slightly metallic in sound, and very pleasing. These notes 

 are occasional!}" repeated as the bird sits motionless on the ground. 

 The nest is a neat structure, usually placed in a small cavity in the 

 ground, under a bunch of grass or heather, and is made of dry 

 bents, and lined with fine grass, fibrous roots, and hair. Four to 

 six eggs are laid ; these vary greatly in colour and markings, but 

 the most common form is white, thickly mottled over with greyish 

 brown. When the nest is approached the parent birds display 

 great solicitude, flying from place to place, and incessantly uttering 

 a sharp but plaintive chirp of alarm. 



Tree-Pipit. 



Anthus trivialis. 



FIG. 40. TREE-PIPIT. natural size. 



Upper parts ash 

 tinged with olive, the 

 centre of each feather dark 

 brown ; a double band 

 across the wing, formed by 

 the yellowish white tips of 

 the lesser and middle 

 wing-coverts ; the outer 

 pair of tail feathers white ; 

 throat and region of the 

 eye dull white ; breast 

 buff, with elongated spots 

 of dark brown ; belly and 

 lower tail-coverts dull 

 white. Length, six inches. 



Of the three species of 

 Anthus inhabiting the 



