261 



OBSERVATIONS 



VARIOUS PARTS OF NATURE. 



BIRDS. 



IN severe weather, fieldfares, redwings, skylarks, and titlarks, 

 resort to watered meadows for food ; the latter wades up to its 

 belly in pursuit of the pupae of insects, and runs along upon the 

 floating grass and weeds.* Many gnats are on the snow near 

 the water, these support the birds in part. 



* Mr. White perpetually confounds the common and tree pipits, the species he has above 

 designated "titlark" being a very different bird from that which he several times speaks of under 

 the same name in his letters. Four species of this genus anthus are now admitted into the 

 British fauna, three of which are common birds in their respective localities. They form a very 

 natural group, and are intimately allied with the different wagtail genera, which they resemble in 

 every essential particular, though externally approximating towards the larks (alauda) , in which 

 genus they were arranged by Linnaeus and the other earlier naturalists, and by which general 

 name they are still popularly known, our three common species being vulgarly denominated tit- 

 lark, pipitlark, and mudlark. They have little affinity, however, for the lark genus, notwith- 

 standing this apparent resemblance, and, in a system based on the physiological relations of 

 species, should range at a considerable distance from them, being modifications of a distinct type 

 of organization. In general aspect they are less energetic than the larks, stand higher on the 

 legs, and run about much more in the manner of a water wagtail. They sing generally upon the 

 wing, but never soar to any considerable height, nor have they the characteristic breadth of wing 

 of the lark genus ; they ascend only a little way, reiterating without intermission a single note, 

 which only varies as they commence descending, at which time, as they slowly, with wings 

 but half expanded, float obliquely downward, many of them utter strains of more interest. They 

 further differ from the larks, and very strikingly, in the changes they undergo in plumage, a 

 character of much importance towards determining the true affinities of birds. Thus, the larks 

 are at first clad in a peculiar mottled garb, which is entirely cast at the first moulting, including 

 the wing and tail primaries ; they also change their feathers once only in the year, though shed- 

 ding the extreme tips of them in the spring ; but the pipits (like all the other wagtail genera) are 

 double moulting birds, changing all but the primaries both in spring and autumn, and retaining 

 their nestling primaries till the second autumn, that is, until the third (including the vernal) 

 renovation of their clothing plumage ; their nestling garb, also, is simply intermediate between 

 the diverse seasonal dresses of the old birds. 



To return, however, to the specific distinctions, which Mr. White altogether overlooked. The 

 most abundant species is the common pipit (A. cowmunis), or meadow pipit, as it is often 

 called. This is by far the most generally diffused, and haunts everywhere, in all parts of the 

 island, wild moors and commons, marshes, and meadow lands wherever situate, being equally 

 common on the bleakest mountain heaths and along the richest water-meadows of the south. It 

 is the smallest species, and one of the most typical, or characteristic of its tribe. The bill 

 is slender and insectivorous-looking, the hind toe furnished with an elongated and stiaightened 

 claw, as in the larks, which all the genus much resemble in their colours and markings. It sings 

 generally on the wing, in the manner described, but its voice has little music to recommend it, 



