bird rises into the air, uttering its sharp call-note repeatedly, and glides 

 down again to its perch in full song. 



The food of the Rock Pipit is principally composed of small shells, 

 insects and their larvae, varied with small seeds. A great deal of its 

 food is obtained on the seaweed which has been cast up by the waves 

 beyond high-tide mark. The heat of the sun soon causes the weed to 

 putrefy, and forms a nursery for millions of small black flies ; on these the 

 Rock Pipit feeds, and the bird may often be seen to catch them in the air, 

 hovering like a fly-catcher. In the autumn the Rock Pipit wanders from 

 its accustomed haunts, and frequents the low- lying marshes on the sea- 

 coast, showing a decided preference for the grassy portions of mud-flats and 

 the low banks of shingle on the edge of the marshes. 



The breeding season of the Rock Pipit commences about the middle of 

 April, eggs rarely being found before the end of the month or the beginning 

 of May. The nest is seldom very far from the sea ; it is nearly always very 

 well concealed in some sheltered situation, under a stone, under a heap of 

 seaweed, or in a crevice in the rocks, often in the middle of a tuft of sea- 

 campion. In the Shetlands I have frequently seen it in some absolutely 

 inaccessible crack in the face of the cliffs hundreds of feet above the sea, and 

 I found two or three nests in piles of stones in such situations as a Wheatear 

 would have chosen. The nest is sometimes entirely built of fine dry grass ; 

 sometimes the outside is composed of the stems of various plants, such as 

 sea-campion or sea-pinks intermixed with a little seaweed, and lined with fine 

 grass, and moss is often used in the foundation ; other nests are lined with 

 hair, and Gulls' feathers are sometimes woven into the sides. 



Four or five eggs are laid, which do not vary in type very much. The 

 ground-colour is nearly white, but it is so much obscured by the profusion 

 of the markings that it is seldom visible. The surface-marks are small, and 

 vary from reddish brown to brownish grey ; the underlying spots are always 

 pale grey. On most specimens the markings are very small and confluent, 

 often forming a zone round the larger end of the egg. Some specimens are 

 more boldly blotched than others, and very pale examples are not uncommon. 

 Some clutches are marked with very dark hair-like scrawlings on the large 

 end of the egg. They vary in length from -91 to 79 inch, and in breadth 

 from '66 to "59 inch. Two broods are usually reared in the season. 



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