TREE PIPIT. 449 



he will be seen to ascend on quivering wing about as high 

 again as the tree, then, stretching out his wings and ex- 

 panding his tail, he descends slowly by a half-circle, sing- 

 ing the whole time, to the same branch from which he 

 started, or to the top of the nearest other tree ; and so 

 constant is this habit with him, that if the observer does 

 not approach too near to alarm him, the bird may be seen 

 to perform this same evolution twenty times in half an 

 hour, and I have witnessed it most frequently during and 

 after a warm May shower. 



The nest of this bird is placed on the ground in woods 

 and plantations, sometimes sheltered by tufts of herbage 

 on the grassy bank of a wood hedge, or under a low bush ; 

 and Mr. Neville Wood mentions one instance that occurred 

 to him, in which the nest of this bird was fixed on the 

 lowest branch of a small thick bush. The nest is formed 

 of moss, with fibrous roots and dried grass, lined with fine 

 bents and a few hairs : the eggs are four or five in number, 

 and exhibit considerable variation in colour in different 

 nests, the most characteristic, however, being of a greyish 

 white ground colour, clouded and spotted with purple 

 brown, or purple red ; the length of the egg about ten 

 lines, by eight lines in diameter. Like the Wagtails and 

 Larks, the Pipits walk and run on the ground : and the 

 food of this species is insects and worms. 



The Tree Pipit is found in all the wooded and culti- 

 vated districts of the southern counties of England ; but 

 is seldom found in any open unenclosed country. It is 

 comparatively rare in Cornwall ; not very numerous in 

 either South or North Wales ; and some doubts are still 

 entertained whether it extends its range to Ireland. North 

 of London it is common in the parts of those counties 

 which are congenial to its habits ; Mr. Neville Wood says 

 it is abundant in the sheltered and cultivated parts of 



VOL. I. G G 



