42 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



and cup-shaped, made externally of dry ^^rass and stalks 

 of plants, straws, and roots, and lined with finer grass 

 and horsehair, although roots are sometimes substituted 

 for the latter in districts where it cannot be obtained. 

 The bird is a close sitter, and when flushed usually flies 

 straight away. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement: 

 The eggs of the Tawny Pipit are five or six in number. 

 They vary in ground colour from pale greenish-blue to 

 white strongly suffused with yellow, mottled, streaked, 

 and spotted with reddish-brown, and with underlying 

 markings of lavender-gray. They are subject to con- 

 siderable variation. As a rule the markings are 

 numerous, but never so much so as to conceal all the 

 ground colour, and become most dense round the larger 

 end of the ^g^. Generally the surface spots are large, 

 irregular in shape and pale, but sometimes round and 

 very dark in colour. Average measurement, 'Zj inch in 

 length by '65 inch in breadth. Incubation is performed 

 chiefly by the female, but the duration of the period is 

 apparently unknown. 



Diagnostic characters : It is impossible to g\v& 

 any character which will distinguish the eggs of the 

 Tawny Pipit. They can be confused with those of the 

 Crested Lark — which is most unfortunate, as the two 

 species frequent very similar ground — and even with 

 those of the Rufous Warbler, but the latter bird does 

 not breed upon the ground. 



