246 BRITISH BIRDS. 



material of which it is composed. Sometimes it is entirely made of dry 

 fine grass, at others seaweed is intermixed or the stalks of various plants 

 growing near the sea, and it is frequently lined with hair. Some nests 

 have a considerable amount of moss in them ; and Dixon has taken a nest 

 on one of the Fame Islands in which there was a large white Gull's 

 feather in the lining. This difference of material is to a great extent 

 dependent upon locality. Where the birds can obtain hair they do so ; 

 where fine grass only can be obtained it is generally used ; whilst in 

 localities affording a more extensive choice the materials are more varied. 

 The eggs of the Rock-Pipit are four or five in number, but do not differ 

 very much in colour. The ground-colour is generally so much obscured 

 by the profusion of spots and streaks as to be scarcely discernible, but 

 appears to be nearly white, occasionally slightly tinged with brown or 

 green. The overlying spots vary from reddish to greyish brown, but the 

 underlying spots are always pale grey. On most eggs the markings are 

 very small and almost confluent, sometimes forming a zone round the 

 large end. Examples which are somewhat more boldly blotched, and 

 others which are more sparingly spotted, are not uncommon. Occasionally 

 a few very dark hair-like streaks occur, principally on the large end. 

 They vary in length from '9 to *8 inch, and in breadth from - 66 to '6 

 inch. The eggs of this bird very closely resemble those of the Water- 

 Pipit, but are on an average much browner and a trifle larger. Two 

 broods are commonly reared in the season. The old birds are often very 

 anxious when their nest is menaced. The female usually sits very close, 

 often allowing herself to be almost touched ere she quits the nest, when 

 she will sometimes flutter along feigning lameness to draw attention from 

 her eggs or young. 



The food of the Rock-Pipit is chiefly composed of insects and their larvae 

 and small -shells, but it also feeds to some extent on small seeds. Much 

 of its food is obtained on the seaweed which has been cast up by the storm 

 above the usual high-water mark, and which in the glaring sun soon 

 putrifies and abounds with millions of a little black fly. These flies are 

 eagerly sought after by this industrious little bird, who sometimes 

 pursues them a little way into the air. It also searches about on the 

 sandy spots amongst the boulders, especially when the tide is out ; and in 

 winter Saxby states that it will even come to the doors and feed with the 

 poultry, sometimes perching on the window-sills. The same writer also 

 states that he has observed it regularly in autumn under the trees 

 searching for insects, and especially for a small land-shell, amongst the 

 dead leaves and 'twigs. It will sometimes follow the receding waves so 

 closely as to be compelled to wade, and is doubtless often mistaken for the 

 moment in such a situation for a small Sandpiper or Stint, until it rises 

 and drifts away, uttering its complaining hist as it goes. 



