MEADOW PIPIT 43 



or just oif the nest. Whether this behavior also occurs, as in some birds, 

 before incubation begins, when it can be regarded as solely and un- 

 equivocally a courtship action, since the utilitarian element entailed in 

 the feeding of the female while she is sitting is lacking, does not appear 

 to have been established. The same observers note that during the 

 pairing period sex chases, although less sustained than those of many 

 passerines, are frequently seen. 



Nesting. — The nest of the meadow pipit is built in the open in a 

 depression in the ground — which appears to be often a scrape made 

 by the birds themselves — among grass or in a tuft of rushes or heather, 

 and may be very well concealed or fairly open. It is a cup built of 

 dry grasses and bents lined with finer material and some horsehair. 

 The nest is built chiefly by the female, though the male assists her; 

 she has been seen examining possible nest places some days before 

 beginning to build, but site selection and building may occur on the 

 same day (C. and D. Nethersole-Thompson, 1943). 



Eggs. — The eggs are thus described by Jourdain in the Handbook 

 of British Birds (1938, vol. 1) : "Ordinary types brown or grey in 

 general appearance, finely mottled or more boldly marbled with vary- 

 ing shades of brown and ashy grey ; others are almost uniform ochre- 

 ous or pale leaden-grey, with dark hair-streaks, and some sparsely 

 or unmarked on pale blue ground. An er3i:hristic type recorded. 

 Average of 100 British eggs: 19.77x14.63. Max. : 21.4 x 15.7. Min.: 

 18.7 X 14.5 and 19.1 x 14 mm." The usual number of eggs in Britain 

 is four or five, sometimes only three and seldom six. But in moro 

 northern regions clutches average larger; Blair (1936) found six 

 the usual number in the far north of Norway, and clutches of seven 

 were found on several occasions. In Iceland Hantzsch (1905) found 

 no complete clutch of less than five, a number of six, and one of seven. 

 The experience of other observers in northern regions is similar. In 

 England the season for eggs is from the latter part of April on, 

 though clutches may rarely be found earlier in the month. In Ger- 

 many it averages rather later; according to Niethamnier (1937) it 

 extends from the beginning, or often only from the middle, of May, 

 or not infrequently even from the end of April, to the end of June 

 or occasionally even July. In northern Norway Blair found that the 

 first eggs in a large series of nests examined were laid between June 

 2 and 19. In Iceland also the first eggs are usually laid at the end 

 of June, though rarely they may be laid at the end of May (Hantzsch) . 

 These data are selected as representative from a large amount avail- 

 able with regard to this common European bird. In temperate re- 

 gions the species is double-brooded, and this appears to be at least 

 sometimes the case even in Iceland, as Congreve and Freme (1930) 

 found fresh eggs on May 28 and also on July 5. 



Young. — Only the female incubates. She is regularly fed on or near 



