Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/131

Rh The Pipits are birds midway between the Wagtails and the Larks. Their tails are long, but not very long, and they wag them a little. In plumage they resemble Larks. There are many kinds in India, most of which love stony hills and barren plains. One species, however, which Jerdon calls the Indian Titlark (Corydalla rufula), meets us almost everywhere, often consorting with the Wagtails. It is a permanent resident, making its nest on the ground like a lark. I ought also perhaps to mention the Indian Tree Pipit (Pipastes agilis), so called because, though it lives and feeds on the ground, it always flies up into a tree when frightened. In its tastes it resembles the Wagtail, seeking moist and cool places, and the shade of trees, but in its character it is quite the reverse of that restless creature. It is a quiet bird, seldom uttering a sound, walking softly and picking up little insects gently, while its tail wags slowly like a mechanical toy. It is of a sociable disposition, and you will often see half-a-dozen feeding under the shade of one tree. In the country which lies opposite our harbour, where the roads are often avenues of fine trees, you may meet scores of these birds in a morning's walk. They let you come very near and then all fly silently into the tree above them. They will not hop about there, but sit silently for a little and then fly down again. You will recognise them more easily by these traits than by colour or shape, for there is nothing striking about the Tree Pipit. It leaves us as the hot season comes on and goes to bring up its young on the Himalayas.

The Larks ought to follow next, for they are in many respects very near to the Pipits, but in the