Birds of the Field 



distinctness and the practised ear can detect 

 snatches from the songs of other birds reproduced 

 with striking exactness. 



Intermediate between the Larks and Warblers 

 is a family which includes the Wagtails and Pipits. 

 Two of the latter species, the Tree Pipit and the 

 Meadow Pipit call for our attention here. Their 

 plumage is streaked after the manner of a Lark, 

 and the similarity between the two birds renders 

 their identification somewhat difficult for a 

 beginner. The unfailing test is furnished by the 

 hind claw. That of the Tree Pipit is curved and 

 shorter than the hind toe, while the Meadow 

 Pipit's is longer than the toe and nearly straight. 

 As it would be somewhat futile to command the 

 birds to stand at attention and present toes, the 

 field naturalist needs some rather more visible sign. 

 The Meadow Pipit is smaller and not so brightly 

 coloured as its relative, but the great guide to 

 recognition is to be found in their habits. The Tree 

 Pipit, as its name implies, prefers the woodland 

 districts, and from some favourite perch launches 

 itself into the air, mounting and falling in the most 

 graceful manner, uttering its song the while. In 

 Middlesex a favourite nesting place was furnished 

 by the railway embankments, and the male birds 

 were fond of sitting on the telegraph wires over- 

 head whence they could perform their aerial 

 evolutions. The Meadow Pipit on the other hand 

 is a lover of the open, spending the greater part 



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