242 BRITISH BIRSS. 



a short whit or yhit as they went. I found an empty nest, which could 

 only have belonged to this bird, placed amongst the growing barley, which 

 was about twelve inches high, in exactly a similar place to that in which 

 the Sky-Lark often builds, made of dry grass lined with hair." 



The Tawny Pipit breeds only once in the year, and fresh eggs may 

 sometimes be obtained in Greece late in May, but in Germany seldom 

 before early in June. The site for the nest is sometimes under a bush, 

 sometimes beneath a tuft of dense herbage or under the shelter of a clod 

 of earth ; at others in the open plain amongst the growing crops, and 

 often near a dried-up streamlet on a bank beside a convenient stone. The 

 nest is made of dry grass, often intermixed with a few stems of coarse 

 herbage or straws, together with roots, and lined with horsehair, although 

 in many cases fine roots alone serve the purpose. The eggs are five or six in 

 number, and are subject to some little variation ; the more boldly spotted 

 eggs very closely resemble those of the Rufous Warbler, whilst others 

 might be mistaken for eggs of the Crested Lark. The ground-colour 

 varies from very pale greenish blue to creamy white, which is always 

 profusely spotted, but never sufficiently so to hide it. The overlying 

 spots are reddish brown, and the underlying spots are grey. The spots are 

 generally elongated, more or less, into streaks, and largest at the large 

 end of the egg ; they are sometimes large, bold, irregular-shaped 

 blotches, but not unfrequently small streaks or nearly round spots, and 

 are sometimes dark and rich in colour, but more often somewhat paler and 

 dull. The number of variations is very great, but the range of variation is 

 comparatively small. They vary in length from '95 to '8 inch, and in 

 breadth from -69 to -6 inch. 



The food of this bird consists of various kinds of insects, especially small 

 beetles, larvae, &c., for which it searches amongst the herbage on the 

 ground, and it is said seldom, if ever, to eat seeds. 



The habits of the Tawny Pipit in winter are very similar to those in 

 summer. There does not seem any record of its collecting into large flocks 

 even during the periods of migration. In its winter-quarters it is described 

 as a comparatively solitary bird, occasionally consorting with Crested 

 Larks, and frequenting the borders of the desert, but also visiting the 

 stubbles, the fallows, and even bare places in forests and the banks of 

 lagoons and canals, but preferring sandy wastes where some scant vegeta- 

 tion is to be found. 



The Tawny Pipit varies very much in the colour of its plumage, even in 

 the same locality. The general colour of the adult male in breeding- 

 plumage varies from an almost neutral brown to a sandy brown ; the dark 

 centres of the feathers of the upper parts are conspicuous on the head, very 

 obscure on the back, and entirely absent on the rump, and almost so 



