10 ANTHID.E. 



at the presence of a dog or gun, and when a shot is fired flies 

 about wildly, uttering its soft peep ! If a small bird falls, the 

 Meadow Pipits immediately collect and hover about it, or 

 stand erect upon the ground, watching with anxious interest. 

 They are not so familiar as the wagtails, if we may judge 

 from the circumstance of their never entering our garden, of 

 which the lawn is only divided from the adjoining field, where " 

 they abound, by a low hedge ; whilst wagtails, both white 

 and yellow, continually pass the boundary, and run fearlessly 

 up to the windows of the house. 



Although remaining all the year in this country, the Mea- 

 dow Pipit retires from many of the temperate parts of the 

 continent of Europe in autumn, to avoid the severities of 

 winter ; it does not appear to pass that season either in Hol- 

 land or Germany. 



This species moults in August, and it is by some natu- 

 ralists considered that a second, or partial moult takes place 

 in the spring; specimens having been observed in moult in 

 March and April. Some difference of opinion seems to pre- 

 vail with respect to the moulting of several of our small birds, 

 and it is possible that, from some accidental loss of feathers, 

 or peculiarity in the state of their health, individuals may be 

 found moulting at irregular seasons. We lately, in the 

 middle of February, met with an adult male pied-wagtail, 

 which had upon the breast many new feathers still in the 

 quills, which appeared to be black, with white fringes or tips, 

 and some in the same state of forwardness were to be ob- 

 served on the back and scapulars. The Meadow Pipit is be- 

 lieved to have two broods in the year ; the first is ready to 

 fly in April ; the second in June. When alarmed for the 

 safety of their young, the note of this species is trit ! trit ! 



The entire length of this species is five inches and three- 

 quarters. The wing measures, from the carpus to the tip, 

 three inches one line ; the first four quill-feathers are of equal 



