9 4 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 
and it is amongst the grass, and moss, and heath of the 
forest, overshadowed with broad fronds of the fern, that 
it delights to place its nest. 
There is little difficulty in distinguishing the tree pipit 
from the meadow pipit, though they have been fre- 
quently and strangely confounded. The former is so 
much more graceful and elongated in form, the ground 
colour of the neck and breast is more fawn than the 
latter, and the markings are more distinct, that it may 
be recognised at a glance by one who knows both species. 
On a closer inspection, the short hind claw of the tree 
pipit is an unerring distinction, as well as the lighter 
colour of the legs. Their habitat, too, as far as my 
observation goes in our own district, is as distant as 
their names imply, nor have I ever met with the two 
together. 
The eggs of the tree pipit vary more than those of 
any bird I know, hardly any two being alike éither in 
colour or markings; every tint from dark bluish-purple 
to rich red may be met with. Half a dozen are now 
lying before me. The first has a pale purplish-grey 
ground with very dark bluish-purple marks and blotches 
sparingly distributed, except at the larger end, where 
they are thickly accumulated; the second has a still 
paler ground, with blotches of very light purple, as 
though washed on; over this are spots of rich red, in- 
terspersed with smaller spots and lines of the same 
colour, but much darker, and crowded like the first at 
the larger end; the third has a pale reddish ground, 
pencilled over irregularly with a darker shade of the 
same, the larger end being also darker; the fourth is 
similar in markings, with the addition of distinct dark 
spots, the edges of which are somewhat shaded, but 
ee ee a ee ee 
