ROCK-PIPIT. 245 
is not a very shy bird, and will usually allow you to approach it within 
gunshot. Sometimes when disturbed from the beach, it will flutter into 
the air and fly about in a very erratic manner, often hovering above 
the observer’s head, incessantly uttering its call-note, and will often 
finally wing its way to the cliffs, and perch midway up them on a little 
ledge, where you can see it moving its wings and tail in an uneasy 
manner. Its flight is wavering, very uncertain, and sometimes it seems 
as though the bird were either perfectly helpless or willingly allows itself 
to be tossed hither and thither by the stiff ocean breeze. It is not gre- 
garious during the breeding-season ; but in winter it is generally seen in 
small parties, which become large flocks at the two periods of migration. 
It is very active, and runs up and down over the shingle in true Pipit style, 
and repeatedly perches on rocky boulders, masses of seaweed, or even 
on portions of wreckage washed ashore. 
The Rock-Pipit pairs in the middle of March, and a day or two pre- 
vious to that event its song is renewed for the season. Like all the 
other Pipits, the Rock-Pipit seldom sings except on the wing. When 
it is in full song its notes are very musical, and rival those of the 
Meadow-Pipit, but can scarcely compare with those of the Tree-Pipit, 
either in variety, richness, or duration. In the pairing-season the 
Rock-Pipit sings mcessantly, mounting into the air and gliding down 
again to his rocky perch on fully expanded wings and tail. The first 
really fine day in early spring is the signal for the commencement of 
the song, and it is continued until the young are hatched. The call-note 
of this bird is a shrill hist or pst, most pertinaciously kept up if it is 
seriously alarmed or its nest is in danger. This call-note is uttered 
both when the bird is sitting on the rocks or the ground or when flut- 
tering in the air; and it often soars to the zenith of its flight uttering 
it quickly, and then returns to its perch in full song. In the Varanger 
Fjord, in the extreme north of Norway, where the bird is as common 
as it is in this country, I have heard them in full song at the end of May. 
Although the Rock-Pipit pairs so early it does not begin nesting until 
the middle or end of April, and eggs are rarely found before the end of 
that month or early in May. The nesting-site is always selected 
not far from the sea, sometimes almost within arm’s length of the 
waves ; it is generally in a well-sheltered situation, such as under a stone, 
in a crevice of the rocks, or in a hole ina bank, behind a tuft of sea- 
campion or under a heap of seaweed; and on one of the Farne Islands 
I found its nest on the wreck of a boat washed ashore. Sometimes a 
rabbit-burrow is selected or a loose stone wall; whilst in some instances 
it is quite maccessible, in a niche on the face of a beetling cliff. Saxby 
states that he has occasionally found the nest several hundred feet above 
sea-level amongst grass and heather. The nest differs considerably in the 
