114 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



intervals until the young are hatched. It is built of grasses 

 and lined with finer bents, and the eggs are laid, as a rule, 

 early in May, but Mr. S. G. Cummings found young in the 

 nest on April 17. The four to six eggs are subject to great 

 variation, but may be grouped into three or four types, ranging 

 from pale grounds with a few dark mottles to dark brown or 

 red grounds thickly marbled or speckled with reds or purples. 

 The egg on Plate 41 is of the darker but less speckled group. 

 The Tree-Pipit is frequently victimised by the Cuckoo, but 

 though many eggs of this bird correspond closely with the 

 various types of Tree-Pipit, it is seldom that the Cuckoo's egg 

 resembles those in the nest in which it is deposited. 



In summer both sexes are hght brown, striated with darker 

 brown on the head, back, mantle, breast and flanks, but not on 

 the rump ; beneath the brown shades to impure white on the 

 belly. From the brown bill a dark moustachial streak borders 

 the unstriated throat. The legs are pinkish brown and the 

 irides dark brown. After the autumn moult the colours are 

 richer and buffer. Young birds are buffer above and below, 

 and the streaks on the back are more pronounced. Length, 

 6 ins. Wing, 3*42 ins. Tarsus, *8 in. 



Meadow- Pipit. A7ithus pratensis Linn. 



Though a regular migrant and an abundant summer visitor 

 the Meadow-Pipit (Plate 46) is also a resident, for many 

 remain all winter in the British Isles. Large numbers of 

 winter visitors and birds of passage arrive from various parts 

 of Europe and from Iceland in autumn, when our birds are 

 leaving the south coast. The range abroad extends across 

 Europe into western Asia, and the winter quarters are in 

 southern Europe and Africa. Emigrants leave from September 

 until the end of November, and \\\e first returning birds are 

 noted in February, and more birds travel northward along the 



