The Tree-Pipit. 195 



nests upon the ground, frequently in the side of a sloping bank on the margin of 

 a wood or shaw, or near the foot of a hedge b}' the roadside ; sometimes far away 

 in the centre of a grass meadow, or cornfield ; sometimes on a railway bank : 

 usually the nest is tolerably well concealed, but one which I took from a roadside 

 bank not far from a large wood, was so conspicuously situated that, although it 

 only contained three eggs, I did not dare to leave it until the clutch was complete; 

 but pa3'ing a second visit to the same road a few days later I found a fourth egg 

 deposited in the cavity whence I had removed the nest. 



The nest itself is formed of dry grass and bents mixed with moss, the 

 materials somewhat finer towards the inside ; and lined with a few black horsehairs, 

 as in some nests of the Greater Whitethroat : but occasionall}^ a few rootlets are 

 introduced into the walls, and sometimes the entire structure is made of dry 

 grasses; though all the nests which I have found have been fairly tj-pical. The 

 eggs var}' from four to six in number, five being the more frequent clutch : in 

 colouring they differ individually as much as any eggs that are laid, and may 

 roughly be distinguished as — i. Greenish-white, spotted and heavily blotched at 

 the larger end with blackish-brown and lavender; 2. Buff- whitish, densely mottled 

 and spotted all over with olive-brown; 3. Pinky-buff, densely mottled and spotted 

 all over with deep terra-cotta, with one or two black hair-lines or Bunting-marks 

 at the larger end ; 4. Ruddy-brown inclining to chocolate, with scarcely perceptible 

 darker reticulations, and black Bunting-marks at the larger end : every gradation 

 may be found between these four types ; but, in my experience the intergrades 

 between the olive and ruddy mottled types are the commonest. 



As nests ma}^ occasionally be met with from May to August, it is very probable 

 that two broods are sometimes reared ; but it is believed that this is by no means 

 the rule ; because the young, after leaving the nest, remain for a considerable 

 time in their parents' company. 



The action of this and all the Pipits is ver}^ like that of the Wagtails, as they 

 run upon the earth, their tails spring up and down in the same manner ; but in 

 their food they more nearly approach the Larks inasmuch as they not only eat 

 insects and their larvse, spiders, centipedes, and small worms, but also a good deal 

 of seed, more especially of cereals : in aviaries the}- often husk and swallow their 

 share of canary-seed. Whether the Tree-Pipit is as combative in confinement as 

 his relative the Tit- Lark I do not know, because I have had no personal experience 

 of the present species as an aviary pet ; but, from what I know of the Meadow 

 Pipit, I should recommend that only one example be admitted into a mixed aviary, 

 otherwise I suspect that there would be war to the death. 



Lord Lilford, speaking of this bird in Northamptonshire, says : — " It arrives 



C3 



