72 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



i The five or six eggs are turquoise-blue, with a 

 faint zone of light-brown spots round the larger 

 end, sometimes the smaller end. The mowers 

 oft disturb the nest of the Whinchat before the 

 young are fully fledged, and then the birds be- 

 come more shy, and flit about the swathes, rest- 

 less and disconsolate at the loss of the friendly 

 cover. The birds keep together a good deal for 

 the rest of the summer, often repairing to the 

 pastures, and here they remain until the moult 

 is over, and the time for their departure comes, 

 which is in September. 



Another bird which is even more closely 

 Principally associated with the fields is the TREE PIPIT 

 typl ls (Antkus arboreus}. He arrives in our islands 

 about the third week in April, and may always 

 be identified by his habit of perching on some 

 tree in the fields, invariably on a dead branch 

 near the top, or at the very summit if among 

 the foliage, from which at intervals he soars 

 up on fluttering wings, singing as he goes, and 

 then, when the zenith of his flight is reached, 

 returns gliding on motionless and expanded 

 wings and tail to his starting-place. Again 

 and again he soars out from the tree ; all day 

 long he indulges in these song-flights, sometimes 

 visiting another tree from which to soar anew. 

 It would appear that this bird returns yearly 

 to its old haunts, and season after season one 

 particular tree is selected above all others for 

 his perching-place. Sometimes he may be heard 

 to warble on the trees, but his song is never 

 so long or so varied as when he utters it in the 

 air. Although the Tree Pipit is such a bird 



