74 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



sometimes of a greyer colour, freckled and marked through- 

 out ; indeed they vary considerably, though not so much as 

 those of the next species. 



THE TREE PIPIT. Anthus arboreus. While the pre- 

 ceding species remains in greater or fewer numbers with us 

 all the year, the present is a migratory bird, arriving in this 

 country towards the end of April, and taking up its abode 

 in copses and well-wooded enclosures. It is a rather larger 

 bird than the Meadow Pipit, but may be more readily dis- 

 tinguished from it by a comparison of the hinder claws, 

 which in the last species are lengthened and but slightly 

 curved, being formed for walking, while in the present they 

 assume the arboreal structure, and are short and crooked. 

 The nest of the Tree Pipit is generally built on the ground, 

 and formed of dry grass, moss, and fibres, lined with finer 

 grasses, and sometimes with a few hairs. The eggs, four or 

 five in number, differ exceedingly in colour ; some are of a 

 reddish or purplish brown closely marked throughout with 

 a darker shade of the same, others are dull bluish or greyish 

 white spotted with purple-brown, while in others the reddish 

 tinge is wanting. (PI. IX. fig. 65.) 



THE ROCK PIPIT. AntJms aquations. The favourite 

 haunts of the Rock Pipit are the bold, rocky, and solitary 



