Alauda pratensis Linnaeus, 1758 The meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis) is a small passerine bird, which breeds in much of the Palearctic, from southeastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isolated population also occurs in the Caucasus Mountains.

[2][3] The meadow pipit was formally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Alauda pratensis.

[2][3] Birds breeding in Ireland and western Scotland are slightly darker coloured than those in other areas, and are often distinguished as the subspecies A. p. whistleri, though it intergrades clinally with nominate A. p. pratensis found in the rest of the species' range.

[2][3] It is primarily a species of open habitats, either uncultivated or low-intensity agriculture, such as pasture, bogs, and moorland, but also occurs in low numbers in arable croplands.

It is a fairly terrestrial pipit, always feeding on the ground, but uses elevated perches such as shrubs, fence lines, or electricity wires as vantage points to watch for predators.

[3][11] A few isolated breeding pairs are recorded from south of the main range, in the mountains of Spain, Italy, and the northern Balkans.