THE TREE PI PIT. 149 



Pipit is a very active bird, in manner something similar 

 to the Wagtails, running hither and thither in search of 

 insects, or feeding on the smaller worms and grubs. In 

 August, when the corn is soft and milky, and, indeed, 

 right up to the period of ripening, the Tree Pipit is seen 

 amongst it. Formerly I was somewhat puzzled by the 

 visits of several soft- billed birds to the corn-fields, and it 

 was not until I had spent much time in observation, and 

 in dissection too, that I learnt these visits were for the 

 purpose of feeding on the corn. The Tree Pipit is one 

 of the insectivorous or soft-billed birds most commonly 

 found in the corn-fields, and by exercising a little caution 

 you may see him shelling out the wheat with as much 

 dexterity as the well-known Sparrow. Probably these 

 birds subsist on the wheat as a fruit, and would not touch 

 it when dry and hard, like true graminivorous birds ; for 

 the insectivorous birds so feeding on it are all known as 

 ' fruit eaters.' 



The Tree Pipit moults very early in the season, as soon 

 as the young are fully fledged. They then, both male 

 and female, are for the most part found on the ground. 

 Indeed, when once the Tree Pipit has lost his notes, 

 which he does by the middle of July, he is seldom seen 

 on the trees, and never observed to soar in the graceful 

 flights peculiar to the spring and summer months. The 

 moulting season passed, the Tree Pipits tarry but for a 

 short time, and then wing their way southwards, thus 

 making room for the Meadow Pipits, which come down 

 from their moorland haunts to spend the winter. 



