[Illustration: TREE PIPIT _Anthus trivialis_ (left) MEADOW PIPIT _Anthus pratensis_ (right)] Arriving in April with our other summer visitors, the Tree Pipit may be found fairly commonly throughout England and Scotland, but becomes scarcer in the north. It has not yet been known to visit Ireland. It may be heard singing its pretty little song near the outskirts of woods, or in fields bordered by trees. This is usually uttered on the wing when, having sprung some distance into the air, it descends with fluttering wings and open tail to the same perch on the top of the tree from which it started. Most of its food is sought on the ground, and consists almost entirely of insects. The nest is placed in the middle of a field, or more preferably in some bank or railway cutting, and is composed of roots and bents with a little moss and lined with finer bents and hair. The eggs are generally six in number and vary considerably, the commonest variety being greenish white with bold blurred markings of dark brown at their larger end, another variety resembles this in markings but is suffused with reddish, while a third variety is uniformly and closely mottled with reddish brown. In appearance, though not in habits, this bird somewhat resembles a lark. The upper parts are sandy brown with dark brown streaks, the wing coverts darker with conspicuous pale edging to the median ones. Chin white, breast and flanks buff with darker markings, rest of under parts white. Tail feathers dark brown except the two outer pairs, which show a considerable amount of white. Hind claw short and curved. The sexes are alike, but the female is slightly smaller. The young are rather more spotted. Length 6 in.; wing 3·3 in. Common in England and south of Scotland, rather scarcer in Wales and rare in North Scotland. Does not visit Ireland. THE MEADOW PIPIT Anthus pratensis (Linnæus)