MEADOW PIPIT. 43 1 
dull white, tinged with brown, the spots more numerous 
than on the same part in the Tree Pipit; belly and under tail- 
coyerts dull white tinged with brown; legs, toes, and claws, 
light brown; the claw of the hind toe slender, slightly 
curved, and as long as the toe. 
The plumage obtained at the moult which immediately 
follows the rearing of the young, has on the upper surface a 
rich tinge of olive mixed with the light brown colour, and 
the under surface is enriched with an ochreous yellow, both 
these colours remaining till the following spring, about 
which time it is lost by degrees, apparently from the age of 
the feather. 
The whole length of the bird is six inches. From the 
carpal joint to the end of the longest primary three inches, 
to three inches and one-eighth: the first four quill-feathers 
nearly equal in length, but the first is the most pointed in 
shape, and rather the longest in the wing. 
Young birds of the year have the olivaceous and yellow 
tints similar to those on the plumage of the parent birds in 
autumn after their moult. 
