1 95 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



means confined to the mountains, for numbers may always be met with throughout 

 the year on the open commons, farm lands, and pastures of the plains ; towards 

 winter also, the higher and more exposed regions are deserted in favour of the 

 better sheltered localities of the lowlands, and particularly those near the sea-shore. 

 In its habits the Meadow- Pipit, as its name indicates, is much less arboreal than 

 the Tree- Pipit, perching far more frequently on bushes, rocks, or low walls than 

 on trees : its flight is similar to that of the Wagtails ; but like the Meadow- Pipit 

 it often indulges in an upward song-flight. 



The song is not so loud or prolonged as that of Anthus trivialis, and Mr. 

 Charles A. Witch ell says that it " rises crying, chuwick chuwick chuwick, repeated 

 many times, and descends singing, tsee tsec tsec repeated ; or else it changes the 

 accent from the first to the second syllable in the first cries, and ascends with 

 chuwick chuwick repeated, with the same ending as before." The call-note is des- 

 cribed as a low clear ist, often rapidly repeated, and the alarm-note as a short whit. 



The nidification of the Meadow-Pipit visually commences in April, the nest 

 being almost always well concealed and invariably on the ground, frequently in a 

 meadow, or on swampy ground among reeds, on a bank half hidden by coarse 

 grasses, and one which I found early in May, containing almost fledged nestlings, 

 was built in the middle of a mass of coarse grass on a mound in an opening near 

 the centre of a dense tangled Kentish shaw ; it has also been found in ling ; at 

 the foot of a bush ; in a cavity under an overhanging bank, or stone. 



The materials of the nest consist of dry bents, and sometimes a little moss, 

 with a lining of finer grass or rootlets and hair ; like most other nests it varies 

 considerably in bulk and compactness. The eggs are not much unlike those of 

 the Rock-Pipit, excepting that they are smaller ; in number they vary from four 

 to six, their ground-tint being greyish or greenish-white, more or less densely 

 mottled with olive-brown, often forming an ill-shaped zone towards the larger end, 

 where also dark hair-lines are frequently present. The Meadow- Pipit is usually 

 double-brooded. 



The food of this species in the summer consists of insects and their larvae, 

 spiders, small centipedes, small worms, and fresh-water mollusca ; but in winter 

 when insect-food is scarce, small seeds and even grain are eaten. 



Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk," says : " The Meadow- Pipit or Titlark 

 is one of the most common of our resident species, and generally distributed 

 throughout the country. On heaths and commons, by the banks of rivers, in 

 meadows and marshes, on the grassy summits of our lofty cliffs, or the low marram 

 hills upon the sandy beach, the cheeping note of this familiar bird meets us at 

 every turn, and in more cultivated districts, it springs at our approach from the 



