ing bush. Very fine straw, hay, the finer tendrils of the roots of plants and shrubs, and bits of moss compose
g :

small tufts of sheep’s wool, and filaments ' i |
jite, at others pale greenish white, covered with small

I i hal of dried grass the interior. The eggs, which
the exterior; hair, §
are four or five in number, are sometimes greyish wl Me 3 a
5 Fi tekly AYO PrR PT © y ig
irregular spots of deep brown and greenish olive, placed so thickly at the larger end that the ground-colour
g :
is scarcely perceptible.
«Sometimes a second but less numerous bro
nd miry places, where they feed upon worms, maggots, flies, and

semble on some spot exposed to the first rays of

od is produced. The young scatter themselves over the

meadows, the borders of pools, springs, a

At times, and especially in the morning, the birds as

snails.
which, as the beams become more ardent, gradually disperse

the sun, and there form a numerous company, 2
On the approach of an intruder they all rise one after another, uttering warning

into damp or shady places.
: or a little later, according to the season, they descend from the

cries of fit, fi, fit, f. At the end of Septembe

mountains singly, in pairs, or In small flocks, to the damp fields covered with verdure, artificial meadows,

winding streams, and the borders of ponds and marshes.
-Pipits, running like them over the mud and the leaves of aquatic plants, in search for

They are nearly always on the ground, often in
company with Meadow
insects, small worms, prawns, and little shell-fish upon which they subsist. As soon as the cold becomes
intense, they betake themselves to the bogs and the borders of springs and other waters that are not frozen,
and pass the nights in the holes of trees, especially willows. When all other food fails from the severity of
the weather, they have recourse to the smallest seeds or berries of the plants which grow near water, and
swallow them whole. Should the winter continue unusually rigorous, they leave the country entirely, and
return again when the snows have melted. This bird is somewhat more wild than its congeners, does not
allow of a near appproach, but is easily captured with nets, if one or two or of its kind be employed as decoys.”

Head and back of the neck grey; upper surface olive, with a dark brown centre to each feather ; wings dark
brown, the coverts broadly tipped with buffy grey, forming two bands ; axillaries greyish white ; primaries
very narrowly edged with pale olive ; tail dark brown, the outermost feathers with an oblique mark of white
along the apical portion of the outer web and the tip of tbe inner one; the next on each side with a small
patch of white at the tip; superciliary stripe greyish white, lores and ear-coverts grey ; under surface vinous,
passing into buff on the centre of the abdomen, which again fades into the white of the under tail-coverts ;
flanks olive.

In another state the upper surface is similar, but the under surface differs in having the throat vinous, and
a series of brown streaks down each side of it, while the abdomen is greenish yellow, streaked with brown
on the upper part of the flanks, and the white mark on the tail feathers is much less conspicuous.
The figures are of the size of life.