TREE PIPIT 



Autliiis trivialis 



HE Tree Pipit is a very widely distributed summer visitor 

 throughout the British Islands. It is common in most 

 suitable localities in England though somewhat scarcer in 

 Wales, but in Scotland it is not so abundant though it 

 is to be met with in most counties as far north as the 

 Orkneys, and is plentiful in one or two favoured localities. 

 In Ireland the Tree Pipit is much rarer and very local 

 in its distribution. 



The Tree Pipit is a woodland bird, preferring the open parts of forests, 

 woods and plantations or rough country studded with oaks and birches, and 

 is very partial to grassy fields which have rows of tall trees along the hedges. 

 In such places the male may often be seen in spring as he flies up from the 

 topmost twig of some tree, ascending nearly in a perpendicular line like the 

 skylark, and pouring forth his melodious little song. It is not nearly so long 

 a performance as the song of the skylark, and after hovering in the air for a 

 few moments he descends in a spiral with wings and tail outspread, finishing 

 his song as he reaches his usual perch, with two or three long plaintive notes, 

 which may be represented by the syllables ' tscc-dr, tsce-dr, tsee-dr.' During 

 the nesting season the male may often be seen flying from tree to tree, 

 sometimes chasing an insect or dropping to the ground for food, but ever 

 warbling his melodious song. The call-note of the Tree Pipit is a long 

 drawn ' seease,' reminding one rather of the note of the Greenfinch. After 

 the middle of July, when the moulting season has begun, the song of the 

 Tree Pipit is very seldom heard and the bird is much more shy and retiring. 

 The food of the Tree Pipit is chiefly composed of insects, caught among 

 the leaves of the trees and undergrowth, it also eats small worms and cater- 

 pillars which it catches as it runs nimbly about on the grass. During 

 autumn it feeds on the seeds of various grasses, and will even pick up the 

 scattered grain in the cornfields. 



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