164 Mr. O. V. Aplin on the 



the open. The nest is usually in some slight depression — a 

 hoof-mark for instance — and is not infrequently discovered 

 by your horse nearly putting his foot on it. In this way a 

 nest formed of soft grass and lined with fine grass was 

 found in a hoof-mark on November 13th. It contained 

 four fresh eggs ; the eggs are white^ with a faint bluish 

 shade, sparingly speckled all over with grey and pale brown, 

 mostly so near the large end in some cases. In one egg at 

 the large end are two or three hair-like marks, nearly black. 

 Another nest, on the 17th, with one egg, was placed against 

 the stems of a low plant of mio-mio — that poisonous deep green 

 plant which always flourishes in times of drought, when 

 everything else is withering up. This nest had an addition 

 to the lining in the shape of a little short cow-hair. This 

 bird, like all the others of this family with which I am 

 acquainted, has peculiar singing-habits. In October it was 

 in fall song ; mounting in the air in true Pipit fashion, it 

 descended to the ground in a slanting direction, and either 

 settled or mounted again when within a foot or so of it ; in 

 descent it sang a rapid trilling strain — "che, che, die, weeeee !" 

 the latter part of the song a long-drawn strained note. When 

 on the ground or on a fence, it would sometimes sing a shrill 

 short song, falling in tone — '' schiiiii-cheeeee ! " But in mid- 

 November these songs were heard much less frequ.ently, and 

 as I rode over the camp I used to hear a song, the whereabouts 

 of which I could not make out at first : " aiveeee-titiwee- 

 tee " over and over again. At last I traced it to a little bird 

 hovering and flying about in an irregular way high up in the 

 dazzling sky. The wings were flapped quickly and then 

 motionless for a few seconds. The song came down from 

 several birds at once, a httle distance apart, very sweetly ; 

 but it was blinding work to watch the birds for long. By 

 1st February they were in full moult. On the lOtli April 

 I noted that they had been very noisy lately, flying about 

 singly and in little flocks — the call-note then being " tchick." 

 The next day I heard one sing, the weather being very 

 pleasant, like a second spring in fact. I am inclined to 

 think they became less numerous towards the end of 

 autumn. 



