THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



of time in trees, more especially during the nesting period, 

 when the male loves to start its song-flights from some 

 lofty perch in the branches, and from which he sings at 

 intervals the livelong day. The female, however, keeps 

 more closely to the ground, and it is there most of 

 the food is obtained. The song of the Tree Pipit is 

 both varied and musical, and always sounds best whilst 

 uttered during flight. Ever and anon the bird starts 

 fluttering upwards from some tree, warbling sweetly 

 as he goes, upwards and upwards until the zenith of 

 his flight is reached, when he sails down again with 

 wings and tail outspread, uttering long-drawn notes 

 of twee twee twee as he comes. Sometimes the song 

 is finished on the tree, or even on the ground, some- 

 times as the bird flies from one tree to another. 

 By the middle of July the song ceases, the moult 

 comes on, and for the remainder of their stay the birds 

 spend for the most part a terrestrial existence. The 

 food of this Pipit consists of insects and larvae, small 

 worms, and tiny seeds. When the corn is in a soft, milky 

 state the birds are fond of the grains. Upon the ground 

 the Tree Pipit runs and walks very gracefully and nimbly. 

 It breeds in May and June, making a cup-shaped nest 

 amongst the meadow-grass or the herbage on a bank, 

 often beneath a tree, of dry grass, roots, and moss, and 

 lined with finer grass, and often hair. The five or six 

 eggs vary considerably in colour, presenting several well- 

 defined types, those in the same nest, however, being 

 similar. They range in ground colour from white, with 

 a greyish, bluish, or pinkish tinge, to pale olive, mottled, 

 spotted, and blotched with reddish brown of various 

 shades, purplish brown and olive-brown, and sometimes 

 streaked with dark brown. The young keep in their 

 parents' company for some time after leaving the nest. 



The Tree Pipit has the general colour of the upper parts 

 brown, with darker centres to each feather ; the under 

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