ALAUDIN^. ANTHUS. 
167 
Male, 6, 9;|, 3, -^ 2 ? i\» Female, 5j-^, 9g. 
This species is very common and generally distributed, oc- 
curring in the interior as well as on the coast, and frequent- 
ing wet meadows, moors, commons, and pasture land. In 
winter it becomes occasionally gregarious, and betakes itself 
to marshy places, often to the sea-shore. Its ordinary flight 
is wavering and desultory. It feeds on worms, larvse, pupse, 
insects, and sometimes seeds. Its song is rather pleasant, 
composed of a series of sharp modulated notes, which it utters 
on wing, while descending with expanded wings and tail. The 
nest is usually placed on a grassy bank, or beside a tuft or 
turf, and is bulky, but neatly constructed, the exterior being 
formed of stems and leaves of grasses, the interior of finer 
straws, sometimes fibrous roots, and occasionally a good deal 
of hair. The eggs usually five, vary in size and colour, but 
are generally nine and a half twelfths long, seven and a half 
twelfths in breadth, brownish-white or grey, dotted and freck- 
led with purplish-grey, reddish-brown, or dusky. Two broods 
are reared. It is to this species that the charge of the young 
Cuckoo is most frequently consigned. 
Titlark. Titling. Common Titlark. Moss-cheeper. 
Alauda pratensis. Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 493. — Pipit Par- 
louse, An thus pratensis, Temm. Man. d’ Ornith. i. 269. — An- 
thus pratensis. Meadow Pipit, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 
181. 
99. Anthus arboreus. Tree Pipit. 
Upper parts olivaceous, spotted with dusky ; lower parts 
brownish-white, anteriorly tinged with reddish-yellow ; the 
neck, sides, and fore part of the breast marked with ovato-ob- 
long, brownish-black spots ; the first quill longest ; the hind 
claw strongly arched, rather shorter than the first joint, and 
about four and a half twelfths long ; the feet and claws pale 
greyish-yellow. Young with the upper parts more tinged 
with green, and marked with darker spots. 
Male, 6y^, 10;^, 3^, Female, 6, 10, 
Unlike the last species, which is permanently resident, this 
is a summer visitant, arriving in the end of April, and de- 
parting in September. It frequents the cultivated parts in the 
vicinity of woods and thickets ; is generally dispersed in Eng- 
land, and occurs more sparingly in the south of Scotland. Its 
song, which is superior to that of the Meadow Pipit, is per- 
formed in the same manner. This species more commonly 
perches on trees, on which it also sometimes sings ; but it 
