THE TREE PIPIT 



4NTHUS ARBOREUS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A widely distributed 

 summer visitor, rarer in the west of England and in 

 Scotland, and almost unknown in Ireland. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Tree Pipit is still a fairly common if some- 

 what local summer visitor to the suburbs of London. It 

 is a bird that seems greatly attached to its breeding haunts, 

 continuing, as I have repeatedly remarked, to visit certain 

 fields long after the builder has taken possession of the 

 immediate neighbourhood. The open fields between 

 Kensal Rise and Willesden Green and certain spots in the 

 vicinity of Park Royal and Ealing are cases in point. 

 During migration the Tree Pipit occasionally visits the 

 big parks within the city limits, and it still breeds at 

 Dulwich, Wimbledon, Streatham, Norwood, and Croydon. 

 Then, again, we can trace it as a regular summer visitor 

 from Kew and Richmond northwards through Osterley, 

 Hanwell, Southall, Twyford, Wembley, Harrow, and 

 Kingsbury to Hendon, Highgate, Cricklewood, Hamp- 

 stead, Elstree, Barnet, Enfield, Waltham, Epping, Romford, 

 and many parts of Kent, especially in the vicinity of the 

 Grays. So far as my own experience goes, the Tree Pipit 

 seems commoner in the southern, western, and northern 

 suburbs than in the eastern ones, but this may be due to 

 a less thorough investigation. 



The Tree Pipit appears in its summer haunts towards 

 the end of April, quitting them again in September or 

 October. There are many ideal haunts of this species in 

 suburban London spacious expanses of grass-land, well 

 timbered, meadows on the borders of woods, and private 

 parks. As its name implies, this species spends a good deal 



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