THE TREE-PIPIT. 191 



delicate as the Warblers, he eats more heartily of artificial food than they do, and 

 conseqiiently does not require so many mealworms." 



Mr. Perkins then goes on to recommend that soaked ants' eggs should form 

 the staple article of diet ; also that the egg should be given in a separate vessel, 

 not mixed with bread-crumbs, which he considers indigestible and not nourishing 

 for insectivorous birds. I must confess that my experience does not support this 

 view ; for not only do many insectivorous birds live largely, during the autumn 

 and winter months, upon seed and grain ; but they become sleek and fat upon 

 this diet. Soaked ants' eggs soon become sour, especially in hot weather ; and 

 I find that when dry or only slightly damped, birds eat them just as readily. The 

 opinion of Mr. Abrahams, based upon the experience of a lifetime, is also weighty ; 

 and he recommends that his food for insectivorous birds should be mixed with 

 double the quantity of bread-crumbs. 



In my opinion none of the Wagtails are delicate ; but if the birds are overfed, 

 they are far more liable to disease, than when fed moderately. It must always be 

 borne in mind, that birds in cage or aviary do not have to seek their food ; there- 

 fore their tendency is to eat more than is good for them. 



Family MOTA CILLID^E. 



THE TREE-PIPIT. 



Anthus trivialis, LINN. 



THIS species breeds in Northern and Central Europe from Tromso in Nonvay 

 south-westwards to the British Isles, the Pyrenees, and the mountains of 

 northern Italy, and south-eastwards as far as the Crimea, to the north-east from 

 the valley of the Petchora, the Ural Mountains, and the valley of the Yenesay in 



