36 THE SMALLER BRITISH BIRDS. 



identified as a British bird in 1812, by Mr. Vigors, by means of a 

 specimen taken alive near London. Several others have since been 

 captured in this country, three of them also in the neighbourhood 

 of the great metropolis. In Scotland and Ireland it has not yet 

 been seen. Of its nesting habits nothing is known the eggs are 

 described as being of a reddish white colour, with dark red and light 

 brown spots. 



Stevenson, in his "Birds of Norfolk," mentions three specimens 

 of this bird taken in that county, all of them in the flat marshy 

 grounds called "The Deanes," between Yarmouth and Caister; he 

 dissected one, and found only insect food in the gizzard. The length 

 of the bird considerably exceeded that given by most naturalists, 

 being seven inches and five-eighths, with extent of wings twelve inches. 

 This authority also notices that the plumage varied considerably in its 

 colours from those already described. 



THE MEADOW PIPIT, 



(Anthus pratensis.} 



PLATE III. FIGURE II. 



SOMETIMES called the Tit Lark, Titling, or Meadow Titling, also the 

 Pipit Lark, Meadow Lark, Grey or Moss Cheeper, Ling Bird. In no 

 restricted group of birds perhaps is there such a confusion of popular 

 names as in the Pipits. Lark, and Pipit, and Titling; Titling, Pipit, 

 and Lark, are applied here and there, and shifted from one to the 

 other, until it becomes an inextricable jumble, and one hardly knows 

 to which bird this or the other name belongs. This arises in a great 

 measure from the similarity of the different species. "Pompey and 

 Caesar are so very much alike, specially Pompey," that it is hard to 

 distinguish which is which, and no two species so much resemble each 

 other as the Tree nd Meadow Pipits, the latter being however the 

 smaller bird of the two, and much the most common in this country, 

 where it remains throughout the year, frequenting chiefly the heathy 

 and hilly districts in summer, and seeking the shelter of the lower 

 grounds in winter. It appears to prefer wild uncultivated districts, 

 and has obtained the name of Ling Bird, from being so often found 



