424 ANTHID &. 
short time, he will be seen to ascend on quivering wing 
about as high again as the tree, then stretching out his 
wings and expanding his tail, he descends slowly by a 
half-circle, singmg the whole time, to the same branch 
from which he started, or to the top of the nearest other 
tree ; and so constant is this habit with him, that if the 
observer does not approach too near to alarm him, the 
bird may be seen to perform this same evolution twenty 
times in half hour, and I have witnessed it most frequently 
durmg and after a warm May shower. 
The nest of this bird is placed on the ground in woods 
and plantations, sometimes sheltered by tufts of herbage 
on the grassy bank of a wood hedge, or under a low bush; 
and Mr. Neville Wood mentions one instance that oc- 
curred to him, in which the nest of this bird was fixed on 
the lowest branch of a small thick bush. The nest is 
formed of moss, with fibrous roots and dried grass, lined 
with fine bents and a few hairs: the eggs are four or five 
in number, and exhibit considerable variation in colour in 
different nests, the most characteristic, however, bemg of 
a greyish white ground colour, clouded and spotted with 
purple brown, or purple red; the length of the egg about 
ten lines, by eight lmes in diameter. Like the Wagtails 
and Larks, the Pipits walk and run on the ground: and 
the food of this species is insects and worms. 
The Tree Pipit is found in all the wooded and culti- 
vated districts of the southern counties of England ; but 
is seldom found in any open unenclosed country. It is 
comparatively rare in Cornwall; not very numerous in 
either South or North Wales; and some doubts are still 
entertained whether it extends its range to Ireland. North 
of London it is common in the parts of those counties 
which are congenial to its habits; Mr. Neville Wood 
says it is abundant in the sheltered and cultivated parts of 
