MOTACILLID.E. 4d 



have only two species which are resident throughout the 

 year, the Meadow-Pipit and the Rock-Pipit, the latter, as its 

 name implies, to be chiefly met with on the coast-rocks. In 

 the spring we are visited by a northern race of the Pock- 

 Pipit, a bird which has been a source of much confusion, 

 and by the Tree-Pipit, which is generally distributed and 

 common. The Water-Pipit, a very common continental 

 species, is a rare summer visitant, while the fine eastern 

 Pipit, known as Richard's Pipit, has been obtained many 

 times in onr county during the winter months. Two other 

 species of Pipit, the Ped-throated Pipit and the Tawny Pipit, 

 which have occurred elsewhere in England, have not yet 

 been detected in this county ; the latter has occurred once 

 on the Scilly Islands. Like the Wagtails, the Pipits run 

 rapidly on the ground, and are almost entirely terrestrial 

 in their habits. 



Meadow-Pipit. Anthus jyratensis, Linn. 



[Mountain-Lark, Tit-Lark, Titty Lark : Dev.'] 



Resident, generull}- distributed and abundant, especially on heaths and 

 marshes. Breeds. 



Xo one can walk across any common, raoor, or down bordering the 

 coast without encountering tlie tiny Titlark and observing its lively 

 gestures. In the spring it may be seen rising off the ground, and, 

 mounting a short distance iato the air, it Avill pour forth its little twitter 

 of a song, singing as it descends again with expanded wings and tail. 

 In the winter the Titlark may be found in most water-meadows in the 

 valleys, to which it then retires from tlie bleak moorlands. Its nest is 

 very much affected by the Cuckoo, and, indeed, offers an easily found 

 home for its unwelcome c^g, as the Titlark builds upon the ground, 

 often under some overhanging spray of whin, sometimes benealli tlio 

 shelter of a tussock, but always in such a spot that the Cuckoo has no 

 difficulty in depositing its e^ii;. It is amusing to watch the anger and 

 excitement of the j)air of I'ipits when the Cuckoo has discovered the site 

 of the nest. They (ly restlessly to and fro, al-tem[)ting to drive off the 

 enemy, and will pursue it to a distance. This is a very characteristic 

 spring scene of bird-life in all moorland distiicts. 



Large flocks of J'ipits c')n;^^regate in the neighbourhood of riyniouth 

 about the bc^'inuing of September, and remain u few days (E. M., Mag. 



