THE LADIES MAGAZINE OP GARDENING. 
299 
their few notes are remarkably soft, mellow, and pleasing, especially at 
night, when most others are still. 
They nestle on the ground, making a nest of straw, lined with hair and 
small fibres of any kind, laying four or five eggs of a dirty white with 
darker spots. We have often found their nests in turnip-fields, neatly 
placed under the shade and shelter of a large leaf. The young ones 
accompany the parents for several months after they leave the nest—a 
sign that they breed but once in the season. They are paler in colour 
than the sky-lark, somewhat less in weight, and of a shorter chubby form. 
They are also more rare, and in some counties in the south of England 
they are not seen for years together; when in a following season they are 
plentiful. 
The Tit-lark is the smallest of the genus, and except its shrill tit, tit, 
has no other note either of love or fear. Small parties of them are seen 
in winter on open downs or commons flitting before the traveller, and 
repeating their tit, tit, as they fly. They resort to furze commons to 
breed, and make a nest, which is with great difficulty found, by reason 
of the smallness of the entrance ; the nest itself being in a cavity within 
the edge of the shrub. They lay six or seven small, very dark-coloured 
eggs; and it seems they are successful breeders, as they are very nume¬ 
rous over alt the island. 
Lesser Field-lark, or Pippet. This is a summer visitor, and is often 
confounded with the preceding species, though no two birds of the same 
family are more different in their manners and economy. The pippet 
nestles in the open fields, among corn or grass, and is easily identified by 
his graduated tit-tit song, and by sitting on and frequently springing 
silently up in the air a few yards, and then slowly descending on out¬ 
stretched wings, singing as he drops again to his favourite station. This 
action and song are continued daily throughout their breeding season, after 
which the young and old flock together and become undistinguishable in 
the throng of summer visitors. The pippet is one of the first heralds of 
the return of summer, and as they distribute themselves over the farms 
and are seen springing up from every hedge-row tree, add greatly to the 
general gaiety of the season. 
Greater Field-lark. This is a mute bird ; is coloured very much 
like the pippet, but is of a less elongated shape, more resembling that of 
the wood-lark. They are, however, very rare; we never having seen 
more than two pairs during our residence of above forty years in a farm¬ 
ing district. They nestle among tares or any such thick-growing crop. 
Their nest is formed of slender straw, lined with fibrous roots, and they lay 
four or five roundish speckled eggs. One peculiarity of their manners, 
