LSI MEADOW PIPIT. 





of u verv low bush, a bank, or a wall of turf. It is com- 

 posed of grass, the finer portions constituting the lining, with 

 occasionally a little moss and hair. One has been known to 

 be built on the end of a plank, which formed part of a heap 

 of timber. 



The eggs are from four to six in number, of a light reddish 

 brown, or reddish white, or pale brown, or pale blue colour, 

 mottled over, especially near the larger end, with darker 

 brown. They vary much in depth of colouring, some being 

 much darker than others; hardly any two sets are exactly 

 alike in this respect. 



The eggs are laid about the middle of April, and the young- 

 are abroad by the end of May. A second brood is often 

 produced about the middle of July. 



Male; weight, between four and five drachms; the length 

 varies from six inches and about a half, to six and three 

 quarters; bill, dusky, excepting on the edge of the upper and 

 the base of the lower, which incline to pale yellow brown: a 

 line of dusky spots extends from it down the side of the 

 neck; another stretches over it; iris, dark brown. Head, 

 crown, neck on the back, and nape, brown, the middle of the 

 leathers being darker, and the edges much lighter: after the 

 autumnal moult the whole assumes a tinge of rich olive; chin, 

 throat, and sides of the neck, pale yellowish, brownish, or 

 rufous white; breast, light rufous white, spotted with dark 

 brown; below, dull white, tinged with brown, the whole 

 ground-colour attaining a yellowish tint after the autumnal 

 moult; back, as the nape. 



The wings expand to the width of from ten inches to ten 

 and three quarters: the first four feathers are nearly equal in 

 length, the first is the most pointed, some say that it is the 

 longest, but it is the third that is so; greater and lesser wing 

 coverts, brown, broadly edged with light brown; primaries, 

 brownish black, narrowly bordered with light brown, changing 

 seasonally to olive, and at other times to ash-colour: the 

 outer one has a white edge ; secondaries and tertiaries, brownish 

 black, edged with light brown, changing in the same way in 

 the autumn, and at other times occasionally to ash-colour. 

 The tail is nearly two inches and a half in length; the two 

 middle feathers shorter than the others, and dark brown, 

 lighter towards the edge; the outer one on each side dull 

 white, or very light brown on the outer web, with a small 

 patch of brown on the broad inner web; the next on each 



