THE MEADOW PIPIT 



ANTHUS PRATENSIS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : " Titlark " 

 (Essex). 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed resident, subject to considerable local migra- 

 tion. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : This species is commoner and much more widely 

 distributed than the Tree Pipit. It may be met with 

 during autumn and winter especially on almost any piece 

 of fairly open ground from St. James's Park outwards. 

 I have often seen it in parties in the Green Park, and it 

 frequently visits Regent's Park, Primrose Hill, and other 

 similar spots, and may frequently be noticed on railway 

 banks, in allotments, and so forth. Meadow Pipits are 

 sometimes very numerous on Wormwood Scrubbs, and 

 the bird breeds in many localities in the immediate 

 vicinity. It would be impossible to mention all the 

 places in the more rural suburbs where this Pipit nests. 

 Nothing nearly so fastidious in its choice of a haunt as 

 the Tree Pipit, it may be found breeding in all suitable 

 spots within the Metropolitan area, but perhaps nowhere 

 within four or five miles from the centre of our radius. 

 As previously remarked, the bird is more ubiquitous in 

 autumn and winter, and then resorts to places where it 

 is never found at other times of the year. This seems 

 to be specially the case with respect to the Epping 

 area. 



The Meadow Pipit is more of a ground bird than the 

 Tree Pipit, and it specially delights in land of a marshy 

 or wet character. It is active enough on the ground, 

 running and walking to and fro, but seldom resorts to 

 trees or bushes. In the early spring the male resumes 

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