THE TREE PIPIT. 59 



as an inside lining. Four, five and six eggs are laid, which, 

 as a rule, are of a greyish white colour, faintly tinged with 

 purple, and spotted and clouded with brownish or reddish 

 purple. This is a tolerably fair description of an average 

 example, but the eggs of the Tree Pipit differ very con- 

 siderably, so much so that it has been remarked that 

 perhaps the eggs of no other land bird afford such remark- 

 able variations in their appearance. The hen sits very 

 closely, and leaves her nest with considerable reluctance, 

 sometimes even allowing herself to be handled rather than 

 go away from her occupation. 



The leng-th of this bird is about six and a half inches, 

 the bill is dark brown, all the base of the lower mandible 

 and the edges of the upper one are yellowish brown. A 

 streak of brown passes backwards and downwards from the 

 base of the beak, which is furnished with a few short bristly 

 feathers. The iris is of a deep brown, and has a whitish 

 mark immediately over it ; the top of the head and the back 

 of the neck are olive brown ; chin and throat pale brownish 

 white, or brownish yellow in the autumn; there are numerous 

 small brown spots on the front of the breast which become 

 streaks of a darker colour on the sides. The wings reach 

 to within an inch and a quarter from the tip of the tail, and 

 are of a darkish brown edged with greyish white — there 

 are two distinct bars of this colour across the wing. The 

 tail is rather long and brownish, with the outer feathers 

 marked with white ; the legs and toes are pale yellowish 

 brown ; the hind claw is shorter than the toe, and 

 strongly curved. The female, except that she is somewhat 

 smaller, generally resembles the male, but there is great 

 difficulty in distinguishing between the sexes. 



These birds are much handsomer in the autumn than in 



