148 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



in nests under trees or by the hedgerows, while those of 

 brighter tints are found in the barest situations, in the 

 bright sunlight, and almost invariably in pasture fields. 

 But whether this circumstance is in any way connected 

 with the great variation of the eggs, I am not prepared 

 to say. 



Wary birds are Tree Pipits in approaching their 

 nest. Deceptive motions are their protective power, at 

 least under ordinary circumstances. You see the male 

 bird, when his partner is upon her home, dart silently 

 downwards into the herbage and is lost to view. Could 

 you now observe his actions, you would find he runs 

 rapidly through the grass and thus gains his nest unseen. 

 The nest, too, you will find is almost buried in the 

 surrounding vegetation, and should you come upon a 

 nest by accident, the female bird sits quiet and motion- 

 less, crouching low over her treasure, and only quits her 

 charge at the last moment, which she does silently and 

 swiftly, getting out of sight as soon as possible. The 

 male bird during the whole period of incubation goes 

 but little way from the nest. He chooses some conve- 

 nient tree near his home, from which he sings the day 

 throughout, and which he uses as a ladder into the air, 

 flying down from it to feed his mate, and using it always 

 as the starting point of his soaring flights. He roosts 

 on the ground near the nest ; and when the young are 

 able to fly, and at liberty to repose in any suitable place, 

 both young and parents are never known to roost any- 

 where but amongst the herbage on the fields. I am of 

 opinion but one brood is reared in the year. 



When the young are able to fly they keep in their 

 parents' company, but not throughout the season, for in 

 August Tree Pipits are invariably flushed off the grass 

 fields in pairs, or solitary. Upon the ground the Tree 



