94 THE BIEDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 



and it is amongst the grass, and moss, and heath of the 

 forest, overshadowed with broad fronds of the fern, that 

 it delights to place its nest. 



There is little difficulty in distinguishing the tree pipit 

 from the meadow pipit, though they have been fre- 

 quently and strangely confounded. The former is so 

 much more graceful and elongated in form, the ground 

 colour of the neck and breast is more fawn than the 

 latter, and the markings are more distinct, that it may 

 be recognised at a glance by one who knows both species. 

 On a closer inspection, the short hind claw of the tree 

 pipit is an unerring distinction, as well as the lighter 

 colour of the legs. Their habitat, too, as far as my 

 observation goes in our own district, is as distant as 

 their names imply, nor have I ever met with the two 

 together. 



The eggs of the tree pipit vary more than those of 

 any bird I know, hardly any two being alike either in 

 colour or markings ; every tint from dark bluish-purple 

 to rich red may be met with. Half a dozen are now 

 lying before me. The first has a pale purplish-grey 

 ground with very dark bluish-purple marks and blotches 

 sparingly distributed, except at the larger end, where 

 they are thickly accumulated; the second has a still 

 paler ground, with blotches of very light purple, as 

 though washed on ; over this are spots of rich red, in- 

 terspersed with smaller spots and lines of the same 

 colour, but much darker, and crowded like the first at 

 the larger end ; the third has a pale reddish ground, 

 pencilled over irregularly with a darker shade of the 

 same, the larger end being also darker ; the fourth is 

 similar in markings, with the addition of distinct dark 

 spots, the edges of which are somewhat shaded, but 



