230 
THE PIPITS, OR TITLARKS. 
summer visitant, but is more permanently stationed in the other parts of the north, and mostly 
breeds in warm, well- watered localities. The bird is a special lover of water, and seldom 
seems to fly to any great distance from the brook or river in which it finds its food. 
Like the pied Wagtail, it feeds largely on aquatic insects and larvae, and is also known to 
eat small water mollusks, not troubling itself to separate the soft body from the hard and 
sharp-edged shell. 
The Yellow Wagtail, or Ray’s Wagtail, as it is sometimes termed, is very common in 
England, and is very partial to pasture lands, where it revels among the insects that are 
roused by the tread of cattle. 
It is not so partial to water as the pied species, and may often be met with upon the driest 
lands, far from any stream, busily employed in catching the beetles, flies, and other sun-loving 
insects. Even upon roads it may frequently be observed tripping about with great celerity, 
and ever and anon picking up an insect, and celebrating its success by a triumphant wag of 
the tail. The name of Yellow Wagtail has been given to it on account of the light yellow hue 
which tinges the head and the entire under surface of the body. As, however, the preceding 
species also possesses a considerable amount of yellow in its coloring, the name of Ray’s Wag- 
tail has been given to this bird in honor of the illustrious naturalist. It is a gregarious bird, 
being generally seen in little flocks or troops. 
The coloring is as follows : The top of the head, back of the neck, and the whole of the 
back are olive, brighter upon the head and darker upon the back. The quill-feathers of the 
wings are dark brown, tipped with yellowish-white, with the exception of the two exterior 
feathers of the tail, which are white, with a line of black running down the inner web ; all the 
tail is brownish-black, like the wings. The chin, throat, the whole of the under surface of 
the body, together with a well-defined stripe over the eye and ear, are bright yellow. In 
length the bird does not reach quite seven inches. 
Australia is the habitat of the prettily-marked bird which is known to zoologists by the 
very long name of White-faced Ephthianura. 
It is tolerably common in several parts of that strange country, and is found in little 
flocks, as is the case with the Wagtails. Of this bird and its habits, Mr. Gould speaks as 
follows:. “As the structure of its toes and lengthened tertiaries would lead us to expect, its 
natural province is the ground, to which it habitually resorts, and decidedly evinces a prefer- 
ence to spots of a sterile and barren character. The male, like many of the saxicoline birds, 
frequently perches either on the summit of a stone, or on the extremity of a dead and leafless 
branch. It is rather shy in disposition, and when disturbed flies off with considerable rapidity 
to a distance of two or three hundred yards before it alights again. I observed it in small 
companies on the plains near Adelaide, over the hard clayey surface of which it tripped with 
amazing quickness, with a motion that can neither be described as a hop or a run, but some- 
thing between the two, with a bobbing action of the tail.” 
Only the male bird is gifted with the bright contrast of the white throat and banded chest, 
the female being quite a sombre-plumaged bird. It is always a- sprightly and active bird, and 
is quick of wing as well as of foot. 
THE PIPITS, OR TITLARKS. 
The Pipits, or Titlarks, as they are sometimes called, form a well-marked group, which 
possesses the long hind toe of the hawk, together with very similar plumage, and also bears 
the long tail which is found in the wagtails. Several species of the Pipit inhabit Europe, two 
examples of which will be figured. 
The first is the common Meadow Pipit, or Meadow Titling, a bird which may be seen 
throughout the year upon moors, waste lands, and marshy ground, changing its locality 
according to the season of year. It is a pretty though rather sombre little bird, and is quick 
