144 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



be easily distinguished by the hind claw of the 

 present species being shorter and the beak thicker 

 and stronger than that of the Meadow Pipit. Yar- 

 rell has mentioned other distinctions, but these two 

 always appear to me to be the most reliable, espe- 

 cially in identifying stuffed specimens. In habits 

 and manners the two species differ considerably : 

 the present species is only a summer visitor to 

 England arriving about the end of April, and is 

 much more addicted to perching on trees or the 

 top branches of low bushes, from whence it will 

 constantly arise, and after hovering in the air for 

 a short time singing it will again return to the 

 same or another neighbouring tree or bush. 



The food of the Tree Pipit consists of various 

 sorts of insects, beetles and grasshoppers, as well as 

 flies, gnats and their larvse. 



The nest is placed on the ground, sometimes in 

 plantations or woods, and sometimes under low 

 bushes or tufts of grass, and occasionally on a 

 grassy bank of a wood-hedge : * it is made of moss, 

 roots and dry grass, and lined with finer grass and 

 hair. 



The Tree Pipit has the beak dark brown, the 

 base of the lower mandible pale yellow-brown; 

 irides dark hazel; head and neck streaked light 

 brown and dark brown, almost black; feathers on 



* Yarrell, vol. i., p. 449. 



