ALAUDIN^E. ANTHUS. 167 



Male, 6, 9|, 3, &, T *> *> iV Female,, 5 if, 9^ 



This species is very common and generally distributed, oc- 

 curring in the interior as well as on the coast, and frequent- 

 ing wet meadows, moors, commons, and pasture land. In 

 winter it becomes occasionally gregarious, and betakes itself 

 to marshy places, often to the sea-shore. Its ordinary flight 

 is wavering and desultory. It feeds on worms, larvae, pupse, 

 insects, and sometimes seeds. Its song is rather pleasant, 

 composed of a series of sharp modulated notes, which it utters 

 on wing, while descending with expanded wings and tail. The 

 nest is usually placed on a grassy bank, or beside a tuft or 

 turf, and is bulky, but neatly constructed, the exterior being 

 formed of stems and leaves of grasses, the interior of finer 

 straws, sometimes fibrous roots, and occasionally a good deal 

 of hair. The eggs usually five, vary in size and colour, but 

 are generally nine and a half twelfths long, seven and a half 

 twelfths in breadth, brownish-white or grey, dotted and freck- 

 led with purplish-grey, reddish-brown, or dusky. Two broods 

 are reared. It is to this species that the charge of the young 

 Cuckoo is most frequently consigned. 



Titlark. Titling. Common Titlark. Moss-cheeper. 



Alauda pratensis, Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 493. Pipit Far- 

 louse, An thus pratensisj Temrn. Man. d' Ornith. i. 269. An- 

 thus pratensis, Meadow Pipit, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 

 181. 



99. ANTHUS ARBOREUS. TREE PIPIT. 



Upper parts olivaceous, spotted with dusky ; lower parts 

 brownish-white, anteriorly tinged with reddish-yellow ; the 

 neck, sides, and fore part of the breast marked with ovato-ob- 

 long, brownish-black spots ; the first quill longest ; the hind 

 claw strongly arched, rather shorter than the first joint, and 

 about four and a half twelfths long ; the feet and claws pale 

 greyish-yellow. Young with the upper parts more tinged 

 with green, and marked with darker spots. 



Male, 6 T V, 10J, 3J-, **, jf, T s *, T V Female, 6, 10. 



Unlike the last species, which is permanently resident, this 

 is a summer visitant, arriving in the end of April, and de- 

 parting in September. It frequents the cultivated parts in the 

 vicinity of woods and thickets ; is generally dispersed in Eng- 

 land, and occurs more sparingly in the south of Scotland. Its 

 song, which is superior to that of the Meadow Pipit, is per- 

 formed in the same manner. This species more commonly 

 perches on trees, on which it also sometimes sings ; but it 



