Birds of Britain 

 THE MEADOW PIPIT 



Anthus pratensis (Linnaeus) 



Bleak and dreary moorlands, or wide wind-swept marshes 

 and water meadows form the haunts of this bird at all 

 seasons of the year. Hatched in a neat nest, placed on the 

 ground and carefully concealed under a tussock of grass, 

 the young Meadow Pipit is assiduously fed by both its 

 parents on insects, and his cradle would Le most difficult 

 to discover were it not that the parents, in their anxiety, 

 hover round the spot calling out " peet, peet " in a plaintive 

 and pained manner. The nest is made of grass and bents 

 lined with finer grass and hair, and the clutch usually consists 

 of six eggs, which are of a uniform brownish grey colour, 

 frequently mottled or clouded with a darker shade and 

 having sometimes a narrow black hair streak at their larger 

 end. Several broods are reared during the season. After 

 quitting the nest, they remain about their home, feeding on 

 insects or small seeds and joining in flocks with the Wagtails 

 and others of their own kind. Towards September they 

 become restless and slowly move southwards, the majority 

 quitting our shores for warmer climates ; their place is, how- 

 ever, soon taken by wanderers from farther north that stay 

 with us, braving our winter gales. They are graceful little 

 birds, running about the fields rather like a Wagtail, picking 

 up an insect from a blade of grass, or jumping up in the 

 air and catching a fly as it hurries along in the genial 

 warmth of a summer's day. But on a winter's day, when 



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