658 Birds. 



round the rim, and artfully conceals it from observation, never forsaking her progeny, 

 as some birds are known to do in a similar situation, and never relaxing in her assi- 

 duous attentions to her brood. The skylark never, I believe, perches on trees, but is 

 always seen either on earth or in air, and gives forth his song from either element. — 

 J, J. Briggs. 



Remarks upon the Tree Pipit. The tree pipit is one of those pleasant little birds 

 whose appearance and manners contribute so much to add interest and animation to a 

 sylvan district. He is a summer bird of passage, arriving about the fourth week in 

 April or the first in May, and is pretty freely distributed over this neighbourhood ; in- 

 deed, as Mr. Yarrell remarks, upon the authority of Mr. Neville Wood, " it is abun- 

 dant in all the sheltered and cultivated parts of Derbyshire. This bird shows a de- 

 cided preference to the latter, loving the oldest enclosed grass fields, verdant meads, 

 especially knowls and uplands. He may be observed generally about hedge-rows, 

 perching on isolated trees, and building his nest near one, from which he can overlook 

 his young, and give forth his pleasing song. They commence the latter immediately 

 on their arrival, and at that period I have noticed as many as four birds upon the outer 

 branches of the same tree, practising their agreeable manoeuvres and essaying their 

 sprightly songs. These were probably a party of individuals which had just perform- 

 ed their aerial voyage to this country in company, and had not separated for the breed- 

 ing season. As summer advances, scarcely ever more than two birds are seen together. 

 This bird has a constant and favourite habit of perching on the uppermost branch of 

 a leafy tree ; darting upwards into the air in a perpendicular manner for a few yards, 

 and then, by giving his body a sudden jerk, turning himself head downwards, when, 

 spreading out his tail and stiffening his wings, he steadily wheels his flight to the 

 ground, sometimes to the same tree from which he rose, at others to the branching twig 

 of a neighbouring hedge-row. He repeats these actions very frequently, and accom- 

 panies them each time with the same song, which, although perhaps neither varied nor 

 melodious, has a wild freshness of tone and much of sprightliness of delivery to recom- 

 mend it, and does not lose its interest by repetition. The bird will also sing perched 

 on a branch, or even when procuring insects amongst the long grass, but rarely ever 

 in ascending from the ground to a tree. He runs along the turf like a skylark, and 

 feeds nearly upon the same food. The tree pipit remains with us the summer through, 

 and leaves us late in the autumn. I have seen him in October for some weeks after 

 harvest. His nest is frequently found by agricultural labourers, when mowing the 

 grass-crops in July, and is sometimes hidden in a tuft of herbage, in a coarse pasture. 

 It is composed of long dried grasses, a little moss, and lined with finer grasses and a 

 few delicate fibrous roots, and is invariably placed on the ground. The eggs are four 

 or five in number, of a greyish white, clouded and mottled with ash-grey and two 

 shades of brown, growing darker in colour towards the broader end. Here this bird is 

 perpetually confounded with the meadow-pipit (Anthus pratensis), and both are called 

 by the common appellation of " ground-lark," probably from the fact that their nests 

 are built upon the ground, and yet, in most respects, they are essentially different. 

 The tree pipit is a migratory bird, — the meadow pipit is a stationary one; and whilst 

 the former, as its name would indicate, is generally seen sporting near the summmits 

 of lofty trees, the latter confines his operations to the meadow, running amongst the 

 herbage and taking occasional excursions into the air. — Id. 



Note on a Hedge-sparrow's Nest. The other day I accidentally discovered the nest 

 of a hedge-chanter {Accentor modularis), in a rather singular situation for this bird. 



