ird is -ecognized as distinct, and ¢ ‘1 bis «Catalogue of the Birds of Japan ” but the Japanese bird is now recognized as ¢ : alled s cate 5 A, japonicus. Macgillivray states th emitting its shrill notes 5 but wl fly off, it is with a cowering fluttering ( » The following interesting account of another of has been kindly transmitted to me by e male is easily alarmed, and flutters over an introder, at ‘¢ during the breeding-season th a person to walk close to her without ile incubating, the female will allow 2 motion, with the tail expanded, as if she rising ; and when she does Cc disease or extreme terror. were under the influence of ion of its eggs, the artifices employed by this bird for the protect : Bee a ae Edward Romilly, Esq., of Porth Kerry, Glamorgans : see which I observed in the spring of 1858, would tend to show that birds are A Meadow-Pipit had built her nest on a sloping bank of grass, ar the nest, the mother left it, and, “The following circumstance, endowed with something more than instinct. a few yards from a path which was at the bottom. ig the ground, On my passing ne as if wounded, and looking at me with an anxious , to her and save her nest, which had five little but on the third, as I passed by to look after the fashion of her race, ran limping alot ae expression, to attract apparently my attentior The next morning the same scene was repeated ; nd, I found to my surprise two withered oak leaves placed upr nest, which more effectually concealed it from the path, and the mother quietly sitting behind her d fan in apparent security. Whether she trusted to her new defence, or but we looked at each other for some seconds with mutual and implori brown egg’s in it. at my feathered frie ight on the edge of the simple but ingeniously constructe had learnt to know me better, 1 cannot say; 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 One which was known to him at the side of a drain, was discovered by as on the level ground in fields. On visiting the nest the next day, he some bird-nesting boys, who pulled the grass away that concealed it. 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. The grass was found similarly placed on the following day; and he perceived a small 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 m 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 difference 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. ‘Beathers of the head, neck; back, wings and upper tail-coverts dark brown, margined with olive-brown ; a Be margined with pale brown; primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries brownish black, ne nee blackish brown ; chin, throat, and sides of Ae neck oe a oe i a ON oe with dark brown on the breast and flanks : bill lieht “The oe Sees Ue Ee spouey and toes orange-brown, joints rather aie fats olive ; ; ee e SO ae rar tt lash, : ; irides dark brown, surrounded by a neat feathery f Pl fs res , = . 5 he Plate represents the two sexes of the size of life. The plant is the Sundew, Drosera rotundifolia.