7 
tone, harsher, and rather more prolonged. The song of the male is very loud, rich, and full, 
and in compass and variety far surpasses that of any other of the Pipits, somewhat resembling 
the song of the Canary. It sings during fine weather soon after its arrival in the spring, and is 
in full song during the time when the female is incubating, but is not often heard after the first 
or second week in June. Naumann says that it sings from sunrise throughout the day, until the 
shades of evening commence to fall, and is a most energetic songster. ‘The song is never uttered 
from the ground, but from a branch, often, indeed, from the summit of a tolerably large tree, 
especially a birch; and during the ecstasy of song it floats through the air from tree to tree, 
either rising or falling, continuing its song sometimes as it settles, or ending it just before it 
resumes its perch. When soaring through the air it bears some resemblance to the Sky-Lark. 
Like all the Pipits, its food consists chiefly, if not solely, of insects, which it usually picks up 
from the ground chiefly amongst the grass in the immediate neighbourhood, or under the 
shade of large trees; small grasshoppers, coleoptera of various kinds, spiders, small flies, insects, 
and insect-larve of various kinds appear to form its staple food; and it does not ever appear to 
pursue insects on the wing, but catches them when on the ground or amongst the grass. When 
on the ground feeding, if it is disturbed it merely flies up and perches on a branch, rarely flying 
away to any distance. ° 
Its nest, which is placed on the ground, usually laterally well concealed amongst the grass, 
is most frequently to be found in a wood or along the margin of a copse, not unfrequently on 
the side of a wood-road, and is constructed of dried grass blades and bents intermixed with moss, 
and tolerably neatly lined with finer grasses, bearing a general resemblance to the nest of the 
Meadow-Pipit. The usual number of eggs is four or five; but my friend Mr. C. Sachse informs 
me that he has on several occasions found six. ‘The first eggs are deposited early in May; 
and two broods are usually reared in the season. Mr. Sachse writes that he has seen half- 
grown birds in September. The eggs are extremely variable both in colour and markings, and 
differ greatly from those of the Meadow-Pipit. I have some which on a greyish ground are so 
thickly marked with small dark red spots as to appear almost uniform dark red, others marked 
with dark hair-brown on the purplish white ground, or almost unspotted, being merely blotched 
with a few rich purplish brown large markings, and others, again, marked with tolerably large 
rich reddish marblings and spots on a reddish white ground. In size they vary from #4 by 74 to 
33 by 2% inch, and in shape resemble those of the common Meadow-Pipit. 
The specimen figured is an adult male killed in Great Britain, and is the specimen described. 
In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens :— 
E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 
a. Kingsbury (Harting). 6,9. Highgate, August 21st, 1869 (Davy). ¢, 3. Highgate, August 23rd, 1869 
(Davy). d. Cambridge, May 1862 (For). e, 3. West Drayton, June 20th, 1869 (Paraman). f,¢. 
Cookham, May 1865 (W. Briggs). g,3. Hampstead, April 20th, 1870 (Davy). h, 9. Hampstead, 
April 27th, 1869 (Davy). %. Pagham, September 3rd, 1869 (Grant). k. Crimea (Whitely). 16. 
Maslak, Turkey, October 2nd, 1870 (Robson). m, d. Ortakeuy, Turkey, April 22nd, 1871 (Rodson), 
n, g. Olympus, Greece, April 1st, 1870 (Dr. Kriiper). 0,6. Dauria (Dybowsky). p, 2. Nubia, April 6th, 
3] 
D) 
