24:2 BRITISH BIRDS. 
a short whit or yhit as they went. I found an empty nest, which could 
only have belonged to this bird, placed amongst the growing barley, which 
was about twelve inches high, in exactly a similar place to that in which 
the Sky-Lark often builds, made of dry grass lined with hair.” 
The Tawny Pipit breeds. only once in the year, and fresh eggs may 
sometimes be obtained in Greece late in May, but in Germany seldom 
before early in June. The site for the nest is sometimes under a bush, 
sometimes beneath a tuft of dense herbage or under the shelter of a clod 
of earth; at others in the open plain amongst the growing crops, and 
often near a dried-up streamlet on a bank beside a convenient stone. The 
nest is made of dry grass, often intermixed with a few stems of coarse 
herbage or straws, together with roots, and lined with horsehair, although 
in many cases fine roots alone serve the purpose. The eggs are five or six in 
number, and are subject to some little variation ; the more boldly spotted 
eges very closely resemble those of the Rufous Warbler, whilst others 
might be mistaken for eggs of the Crested Lark. The ground-colour 
varies from very pale greenish blue to creamy white, which is always 
profusely spotted, but never sufficiently so to hide it. The overlying 
spots are reddish brown, and the underlying spots are grey. The spots are 
generally elongated, more or less, into streaks, and largest at the large 
end of the egg; they are sometimes large, bold, irregular-shaped 
blotches, but not unfrequently small streaks or nearly round spots, and 
are sometimes dark and rich in colour, but more often somewhat paler and 
dull. The number of variations is very great, but the range of variation is 
comparatively small. They vary in length from ‘95 to ‘8 inch, and in 
breadth from ‘69 to ‘6 inch. 
The food of this bird consists of various kinds of insects, especially small 
beetles, larve, &c., for which it searches amongst the herbage on the 
ground, and it is said seldom, if ever, to eat seeds. 
The habits of the Tawny Pipit in winter are very similar to those in 
summer. ‘There does not seem any record of its collecting into large flocks 
even during the periods of migration. In its winter-quarters it is described 
as a comparatively solitary bird, occasionally consorting with Crested 
Larks, and frequenting the borders of the desert, but also visiting the 
stubbles, the fallows, and even bare places in forests and the banks of 
lagoons and canals, but preferrimg sandy wastes where some scant vegeta- 
tion is to be found. 
The Tawny Pipit varies very much in the colour of its plumage, even in 
the same locality. The general colour of the adult male in breeding- 
plumage varies from an almost neutral brown to a sandy brown; the dark 
centres of the feathers of the upper parts are conspicuous on the head, very 
obscure on the back, and entirely absent on the rump, and almost so 
