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CASSELL'S HOOK OF BIRDS. 



and lower wing-covers, are pale reddish yellow; the crop, upper breast, and sides, being spotted with 

 black. The stripes on the wings and edges of the shoulder-feathers are lighter than in the plumage 

 of the Meadow Pipit. The eye is brown, the beak greyish black, and the foot reddish grey. The 

 body is six inches and a half long, and ten and three-quarters broad ; the wing measures three inches 

 and a quarter, and the tail two inches and a half. The female is considerably smaller than her mate. 

 During the summer the Tree Pipits frequent the woodland districts of Europe and Siberia, and in 

 the winter wander southward as far as the African steppes and the Himalayas ; they usually arrive in 

 England about the third week in April. In many respects these birds resemble their congeners, but, 

 unlike most of them, take up their quarters in well-wooded and cultivated localities, and at once seek 

 shelter in trees at the approach of danger, and run along the branches with ease. They are also far 



THE TREE pipit {Anthus arbortiis). 



less social in their habits, and, except in the autumn, while still occupied with their young, live alone, 

 or associate but seldom with the other feathered denizens of their favourite woods and groves. The 

 song of the Tree Pipit far exceeds in its quality that of most other species ; indeed, some of its loud, 

 clear tones will bear comparison with those of the Canary. The male sings almost incessantly from 

 sunrise to sunset, until the end of June, and pours out his lay from the point of some projecting 

 branch, from whence he rises into the air, and after hovering for a short time slowly descends and 

 finishes his song upon the perch he had just left. The nest is placed in a hollow in the ground, or 

 carefully concealed in grass and clumps of plants ; it is very clumsily built, only the interior being 

 arranged with anything like neatness or care. The four or five eggs vary considerably both in form 

 and colour, the tints being either reddish, greyish, or blueish white, spotted, mottled, or streaked with 

 a darker shade. The female sits with such devotion that she often will not quit her eggs unless 

 driven from the spot. The young are most tenderly reared by the exertions of both parents, and quit 

 the nest before they are able to fly. 



