BROWN BIRDS WITH SPOTTED BREASTS. 79 



pale edgings ; buff eyebrows ; under parts buffisli- 

 white, spotted with deep brown on breast and 

 flanks ; central tail-feathers dark, outer ones white. 

 Resident. 



Eggs. — 4—6, grayish-white, or sometimes with a 

 greenish or pinkish shade, mottled all over with dark 

 brown ; '78 x -57 inch (plate 125). 



Nest. — Of dry grass, lined with finer grass and 

 hair, and placed on the ground under shelter of a tuft. 



Distribution.— General. 



A bird of the open, and to be met from the 

 seaside, through grass and arable lands, up to 

 the moor- top. It is also very partial to stream - 

 banks and water-meadows. Although occasionally 

 perching on trees or hedge-tops, it is pre-eminently 

 a ground-bird. It is on the ground that it nests and 

 feeds, tripping hither and thitlier with a walking 

 gait, at each pause wagging its tail up and down like 

 a Wagtail. Its flight is marked by spasmodic vibra- 

 tions of the wings, alternating with intervals during 

 which the wings are closed ; it is therefore undulatory. 

 It has also an aimless, erratic flight ; and as the bird 

 takes wing or whilst flying it emits a brisk ' Wheel ! 

 wheel I ' The outer tail-feathers are conspicuously 

 white during the flight. The song begins in March, 

 and though occasionally delivered from the ground or 

 from some low perch, is generally accompanied by a 

 distinctive fliglit. The bird mounts, with body almost 

 erect, at a veiy sharp angle, to a height of about 

 fifty feet, sometimes singing as it rises, at others 

 beginning to sing only when turning to descend. 



