ROCK-PIPIT. 245 



is not a very shy bird, and will usually allow you to approach it within 

 gunshot. Sometimes when disturbed from the beach, it will nutter into 

 the air and fly about in a very erratic manner, often hovering above 

 the observer's head, incessantly uttering its call-note, and will often 

 finally wing its way to the cliffs, and perch midway up them on a little 

 ledge, where you can see it moving its wings and tail in^,ri^uneasy 

 manner. Its flight is wavering, very uncertain, and sometimes it seems 

 as though the bird were either perfectly helpless or willingly allows itself 

 to be tossed hither and thither by the stiff ocean breeze. It is not gre- 

 garious during the breeding-season ; but in winter it is generally seen in 

 small parties, which become large flocks at the two periods of migration. 

 It is very active, and runs up and down over the shingle in true Pipit style, 

 and repeatedly perches on rocky boulders, masses of seaweed, or even 

 on portions of wreckage washed ashore. 



The Rock-Pipit pairs in the middle of March, and a day or two pre- 

 vious to that event its song is renewed for the season. Like all the 

 other Pipits, the Rock-Pipit seldom sings except on the wing. When 

 it is in full song its notes are very musical, and rival those of the 

 Meadow-Pipit, but can scarcely compare with those of the Tree-Pipit, 

 either in variety, richness, or duration. In the pairing-season the 

 Rock-Pipit sings incessantly, mounting into the air and gliding down 

 again to his rocky perch on fully expanded wings and tail. The first 

 really fine day in early spring is the signal for the commencement of 

 the song, and it is continued until the young are hatched. The call-note 

 of this bird is a shrill hist or pst, most pertinaciously kept up if it is 

 seriously alarmed or its nest is in danger. This call-note is uttered 

 both when the bird is sitting on the rocks or the ground or when flut- 

 tering in the air; and it often soars to the zenith of its flight uttering 

 it quickly, and then returns to its perch in full song. In the Varanger 

 Fjord, in the extreme north of Norway, where the bird is as common 

 as it is in this country, I have heard them in full song at the end of May. 



Although the Rock- Pipit pairs so early it does not begin nesting until 

 the middle or end of April, and eggs are rarely found before the end of 

 that month or early in May. The nesting-site is always selected 

 not far from the sea, sometimes almost within arm's length of the 

 waves ; it is generally in a well-sheltered situation, such as under a stone, 

 in a crevice of the rocks, or in a hole in a bank, behind a tuft of sea- 

 campion or under a heap of seaweed ; and on one of the Fame Islands 

 I found its nest on the wreck of a boat washed ashore. Sometimes a 

 rabbit-burrow is selected or a loose stone wall ; whilst in some instances 

 it is quite inaccessible, in a niche on the face of a beetling cliff. Saxby 

 states that he has occasionally found the nest several hundred feet above 

 sea-level amongst grass and heather. The nest differs considerably in the 



