THE TREE-PIPIT. 193 



whee, and so on." On p. 119 also, he mentions that the final notes of its early 

 spring song and those of the Skylark are alike, and " consist of a somewhat plain- 

 tive, prolonged, and repeated whistle, descending in pitch during its utterance." 

 Mr. Witchell has not only studied the songs of our birds very carefully for some 

 time past, but has had a musical education, which has specially fitted him for his 

 task ; therefore I consider it far better to quote his version of a song, written 

 down whilst the bird was singing, than to trust my own memory of it.* 



As its name implies, this species frequently perches on trees, but it always 

 nests upon the ground, frequently in the side of a sloping bank on the margin of 

 a wood or shaw, or near the foot of a hedge by the roadside ; sometimes far away 

 in the centre of a grass meadow, or cornfield ; sometimes on a railway bank : 

 usually the nest is tolerably well concealed, but one which I took from a roadside 

 bank not far from a large wood, was so conspicuously situated that, although it 

 only contained three eggs, I did not dare to leave it until the clutch was complete ; 

 but paying a second visit to the same road a few days later I found a fourth egg 

 deposited in the cavity whence I had removed the nest. 



The nest itself is formed of dried grass and bents mixed with moss, the 

 materials somewhat finer towards the inside ; and lined with a few black horsehairs, 

 as in some nests of the Greater Whitethroat : but occasionally a few rootlets are 

 introduced into the walls, and sometimes the entire structure is made of dry 

 grasses ; though all the nests which I have found have been fairly typical. The 

 eggs vary from four to six in number, five being the more frequent clutch : in 

 colouring they differ individually as much as any eggs that are laid, and may 

 roughly be distinguished as i. Greenish- white, spotted and heavily blotched at 

 the larger end with blackish-brown and lavender; 2. Buff- whitish, densely mottled 

 and spotted all over with olive-brown ; 3. Pinky-buff, densely mottled and spotted 

 all over with deep terra-cotta, with one or two black hair-lines or Bunting-marks 

 at the larger end ; 4. Ruddy-brown inclining to chocolate, with scarcely perceptible 

 darker reticulations, and black Bunting-marks at the larger end : every graduation 

 may be found between these four types ; but, in my experience the intergrades 

 between the olive and ruddy mottled types are the commonest. 



As nests may occasionally be met with from May to August, it is very probable 

 that two broods are sometimes reared ; but it is believed that this is by no means 

 the rule ; because the young, after leaving the nest, remain for a considerable 

 time in their parents' company. 



The action of this and all the Pipits is very like that of the Wagtails, as they 



* The call-note is said to resemble that of the Greenfinch, and the alarm-note to be a sharp tick, tick, 

 frequently repeated. 



VOL. I. 2 K 



