in his ‘ Catalogue of the Birds of Japan ; ’ but the Japanese bird is now recognized as distinct, and called 
A. japonicus. 
Macglllivray states that “ during the breeding-season the male is easily alarmed, and flutters over an intruder, 
emitting its shrill notes ; but vvliile incubating, the female will allow a person to walk close to her without 
rising ; and when she does fly off, it is with a cowering fluttering motion, with the tail expanded, as if she 
were under the Influence of disease or extreme terror.” The following interesting account of another of 
the artifices employed by this bird for the protection of its eggs, has been kindly transmitted to me by 
Edward Romilly, Esq., of Forth Kerry, Glamorganshire : — 
“The following circumstance, which I observed in the spring of 1858, would tend to show that birds are 
endowed with something more than instinct, A Meadow-Pipit had built her nest on a sloping bank of grass, 
a few yards from a path which was at the bottom. On my passing near the nest, the mother left it, and, 
after the fashion of her race, ran limping along the ground, as if wounded, and looking at me with an anxious 
and imploring expression, to attract apparently my attention to her and save her nest, which had five little 
brown eggs in it, Tbe next morning tbe same scene was repeated ; but on tbe third, as I passed by to look 
at my feathered friend, I found to my surprise two withered oak leaves placed upright on the edge of the 
nest, which more effectually concealed it from the path, and the mother quietly sitting hehind her 
simple but ingeniously constructed fan in apj)arent security. Whether she trusted to her new defence, or 
had learnt to know me better, I cannot say ; but we looked at each other for some seconds with mutual 
confidence, and I left her to her maternal cares.” 
To this I may append the following instance related by the late William Thompson, Esq. “ Mr. J. R. 
Garrett has frequently found the nest of the Meadow Pipit on the banks of watercourses and drains, as well 
as on the level ground in fields. One which was known to him at tbe side of a drain, was discovered by 
some bird-nesting boys, who pulled tbe grass away that concealed it. On visiting the nest the next day, he 
observed a quantity of withered grass laid regularly across ; having removed the grass, which, from its 
contrast in colour with the surrounding herbage, was supposed to have been placed there as a mark by the 
boys, the bird flew off. Tlie grass was found similarly placed on the following day ; and he perceived a sma ^ 
aperture beneath it, by which the bird took its departure, thus indicating that the screen which harmonized 
so ill with the surrounding verdure, had been brought there by the bird itself.” 
The nest is usually placed in a slight depression of the ground, often beside a tuft of grass, the better to 
escape notice, and is composed of various grasses, with a finer lining of the same material and a few hairs. 
A nest brought to me by Mr. Smither, of Churt, was externally formed of reindeer- and other mosses with 
an interior lining of fine grasses. The eggs are from four to six in number, 9 lines long by 7 lines broad, 
and of a reddish brown mottled all over with darker brown. 
The birdcatchers of the neighbourhood of London affirm that this species performs a partial migration in 
spring and autumn, passing Primrose Hill (where some of my specimens were taken) in April, and repassing 
it again on the approach of winter. Independently of the differenee in the hind claws of this bird and of the 
Tree-Lark, the two species are readily distinguished by them from the variation in the colouring of the 
legs, those of the former being orange-brown, while those of the latter are fleshy white. 
The food of the Titlark consists of insects, worms, small shelled Mollusks, and a few seeds. 
The flight is usually of a wavering character, and is performed in a series of short unequal jerks ; but 
when proceeding to a distance, it is executed with speed and in an undulating manner. 
Feathers of the head, neck, hack, wings and upper tail-coverts dark brown, margined with olive-brown ; 
wing-coverts broadly margined with pale hrown ; primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries brownish black, 
margined with light brown ; outer tail-feathers on each side white, with a patch of brown on the inner web, 
the next on each side brown, with a small patch of white on the tip of the inner web, the remaining feathers 
blackish brown ; cbin, throat, and sides of the neck tawny ; ear-coverts brown ; under surface tawny, spotted 
with dark brown on the breast and flanks ; bill light olive-brown, the culmen and extreme tip darker ; tarsi 
and toes orange-brown, joints rather darker, nails olive ; irides dark brown, surrounded by a neat feathery 
yellowish-buff lash. 
The Plate represents the two sexes of the size of life. The plant is the Sundew, Drosera rotundifolia. 
