72 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



grass tuft on the common. The nest is made in a little 

 hollow scraped out by the parent birds, and is formed 

 externally of dry grass, twitch, moss, roots, and internally 

 of finer grass, roots, and horsehair. It is not a very large 

 structure, and is usually loosely put together, but neatly 

 finished inside. Many nests of this species contain no 

 horsehair, but are lined with fine grass alone. The Tree 

 Pipit is a close sitter, and usually visits and leaves its 

 nest by running for some distance through the herbage 

 before taking wing. The best way to find the nests of 

 this species is to walk up and down the ground at dusk. 

 The approximate locality of a nest may be generally 

 determined by the persistent presence of the cock-bird 

 in some tree close by. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Tree Pipit are from four to six in number, 

 a clutch very frequently being of the latter amount. 

 Few eggs of our British Passercs vary so much as those 

 of the present species. They range in ground colour from 

 grayish-white and bluish-white to pinkish-white and 

 pale olive, mottled, spotted, and blotched with various 

 shades of reddish-brown, purplish-brown, and olive-brown, 

 and occasionally streaked with irregular lines of nearly 

 black. The distribution and character of the markings 

 vary considerably. Some eggs are so densely mottled 

 and spotted as to conceal all or nearly all the ground 

 colour ; others have the colouring matter mostly in a 

 round patch or in an irregular circle round the larger 

 end ; whilst others, yet again, are pretty evenly covered 

 with splashes, blotches, and round spots, darkest in the 

 centre. Eggs in the same clutch are invariabl}' of the 

 same colour and type. I have often remarked that the 

 darkest -coloured eggs are generally found in the shady 

 situations, whilst those of lighter tints are found in nests 

 made in bare and open localities. Average measure- 



