434 



PERCHING BIRDS. 



the small birds not hesitating to alight upon the back of the cuckoo. As soon, 

 however, as the young cuckoo has become the sole object of the charge of the 

 pipits, the latter accept the situation with admirable fortitude, working early and 

 late to satisfy the hungry maw of their foster-child. The meadow-pipit is very 

 subject to a variation of plumage, especially when young; one of the prettiest 

 varieties being of a buff canary-yellow throughout, and we have seen others 



RICHARD'S PIPIT, WATER-PIPIT, AND TAWNY PIPIT ( nat. size). 



pied with white. A small pale race is found in Madeira. The meadow-pipit 

 is olive-brown above, with dark centres to the feathers, often tinged with olive 

 green ; the under-parts being buffish white, thickly streaked with dark brown. 



A large species of pipit, known as Richard's pipit (A. richardi), 

 breeds in North Siberia, whence stragglers often wander to Britain 

 during the autumn and winter. Mr. Seebohm states that he found this pipit 

 " exceedingly abundant in the meadows on the banks of the Yenesei near Yenesaisk. 

 The country is almost a dead flat for miles, and is intersected with half dried-up 



Richard's Pipit. 



