103 



THE TREE-PIPIT. 



AntJius trivialis (L.). 



The Tree-Pipit apparently entered the country mainly in 

 the south-east from Essex to Hampshire, but there are indi- 

 cations of possible arrivals on the south coast further west 

 which passed unnoticed in the neighbourhood of the coast 

 itself. The earliest records were of three in Breconshire 

 and two in Herefordshire on the 9th of April, while the first 

 immigrants reached the coasts of Sussex and Hampshire on 

 the two following days. Between the 14th and 28th small 

 immigrations took place on the south-east coast and, perhaps, 

 also as far west as Dorsetshire or Devonshire. The effect 

 of these arrivals was the partial population of the southern 

 and eastern counties generally and of South Wales, while 

 stragglers reached many of the Midland counties and as far 

 north as Westmoreland and the south of Scotland. 



On the 29th and 30th of April a large immigration was 

 recorded in the Isle of Wight, and this together with a 

 possible one in the west on May the 1st and others into 

 Sussex on the 7th and into south-east Suffolk on the 12th 

 evidently comprised the main arrival of our summer-residents. 

 On the last-mentioned date a small party of Tree-Pipits was 

 noted at the Outer Grabbard light-vessel coming from the 

 east and making for the Suffolk coast. These successive 

 arrivals were immediately responsible for the extension 

 of range into North Wales and for a general increase of 

 numbers throughout the Midland and northern counties. 



Nests with eggs were found in Somersetshire on the 28th of 

 April, in Staffordshire on the 8th of May, in Warwick on the 

 14th, in Surrey on the 15th, in Derbyshire on the 20th and 

 in Hertfordshire and Radnor on the 21st. 



