PIPITS, OE TITLARKS. 45 



PIPITS IN CONFINEMENT. 



FOUR members of the Pipit family are spoken of by Bechstein as 

 cage birds, viz: the Tit Lark, which is the Meadow Pipit of our group; 

 the Field Lark, about the identity of which we have some doubt, as 

 the description given would suit several species; the Meadow Lark, 

 which is probably our Tree Pipit; and the Water Lark, our Rock 

 Pipit. 



Of the first of them he says that its song, though consisting of 

 only three passages, ornamented with trills and shakes, is pleasant. In 

 a wild state it sings from the end of March to July, in confinement 

 from February to the same period. It is a most amusing bird, 

 attracting attention by its slow and thoughtful gait, the constant 

 motion of its tail, and its attention to its own neatness and cleanliness. 

 In the aviary it requires a varied dietary, and besides the usual paste 

 should occasionally have the nightingales' paste, crushed hemp, and 

 sweet curds or mealworms ; the latter diet, with grasshoppers and ants' 

 eggs, are recommended as food when first taken, mixed with the paste 

 in gradually decreasing quantities, until the bird becomes accustomed 

 to it. The young may be reared on ants' eggs and bread soaked in 

 milk, mixed with a little poppy seed. They are very docile, and learn 

 to imitate, though in an imperfect manner, the notes of other birds 

 kept with them, especially those of the Canary. 



For the management of what he calls the Field Lark, this author 

 gives no directions. Probably the foregoing will suit it very well. 



The Meadow Lark, he says, may be allowed to range the room, or 

 be kept in a Lark's cage, which, like that of the Tit Lark, should have 

 a couple of perches. In the aviary it is difficult to feed, and can only 

 be inured to the universal paste by a plentiful admixture of ants' eggs 

 and chopped mealworms, which, mixed with soaked bread and meal, 

 are its favourite diet. Diarrhaea and atrophy are its chief diseases. It 

 is a very pretty and agreeable cage bird, with a full, clear, and me- 

 lodious song, more full and varied than that of the Tit Lark, with some 

 warblings in it that remind us of the Canary. 



The Water Lark is easily tamed, and will do well in a Lark's cage 

 with perches, or with the free range of the room; it will take the 

 universal paste after a little while, if coaxed into it with the usual 



