iS6 THE BIRDS OF THE WOODS 



unlike that of the other buntings, and has been written down as " a little bit of 

 bread and no cheese," with an accent and drawl on the two last words ; in every 

 European language it has been rendered by some phrase having the same number 

 of syllables and the same arrangement of emphasis. Characteristic also are the 

 strange dances of the cocks, during which they bristle up the head-feathers into a 

 crest, inflate and writhe the throat, raise their wings, and move about in a circle, 

 hopping, jumping, and stepping. 



The ortolan (E. fwrtulana), a quiet, unobtrusive, and plaintive- 

 voiced bird, inhabits woodland borders, low bushes, and hedges in 

 meadows and fields, overgrown gardens, thick forests with thin brushwood, often 

 even sandy fields that are not absolutely bare of trees, but by preference localities 

 near water, although never the actual marsh or swamp. Ranging over Europe 

 up to the Arctic Circle and all over central Asia, it migrates to north Africa, 

 appearing in Germany only in certain districts, such as the lower Elbe, the Lune- 

 burg heath, the plains of Silesia, and Westphalia. It nests in shallow holes, and 

 well-hidden places covered by coarse herbage, and often in cornfields, after the 

 manner of larks. The yellow ring round the eye, the cinnamon breast, and the outer 

 pair of tail-feathers with a long, white, wedge-shaped spot reaching to the middle of 

 the inner web, afford characters by which this bunting may be identified at a glance. 



To recognise the members of the widely extended group of pipits 

 it may be noticed that the hind-claw is more or less elongated, and 

 the plumage plain in colour, the uppei'-parts having dark streaks or spots on an 

 olive or yellowish brown ground, while the lower-parts are white or cream-colour 

 with black lines ; the throat being occasionally reddish brown. Our first repre- 

 sentative is the tree-pipit (Anthus trivialis), which is essentially a bird of the 

 forest, particularly of neglected woods with few trees and undergrowth and sunny 

 glades. Here it perches on trees, even the highest, although more often found on 

 the ground, where it shelters at night. Instead of hopping when in the trees, this 

 pipit flutters from bough to bough, or runs along them. Using trees chiefly as a 

 resting-place and a refuge in case of danger, it hurries to them when surprised, 

 even though they be at a distance, making its way carefully through the high grass 

 or other plants so as to keep out of sight as long as possible. In place of seeds, 

 the tree-pipit lives entirely on insects ; and its nest which, if not artistically, is at 

 least carefully built, is hidden away in grass, heath, or herbage, and contains eggs 

 in the first half of May. The tree-pipit is a summer-migrant, arriving in the 

 beginning of April, and leaving in August or September. As a nesting-bird it is 

 found in Europe for some distance beyond the Arctic Circle, and in Asia up to 

 62° N. in the valley of the Yenesei. It winters in Africa, the Canaries, and western 

 and north-western India, but is not found in Asia east of the Yenesei, where 

 it is replaced by A. maculatus, which winters in India and Burma. It is 

 distinguished from the other pipits, not only by its plumage but by the claw 

 of the hind-toe being much curved and shorter than the toe itself. 



m ., , The larks are at first sight not unlike the pipits, from which 



Woodlark. ° . . 



they may be distinguished by the presence of large shield - like 



plates on both the back and front aspects of the lower segment of the leg. Their 



