116 



KEARTONS' NATURE PICTURES 



would satisfy a young and careless 

 wheatear. The structure, which is neat 



MEADOW PIPIT'S NEST. 



and compact, is composed of bents and 

 fine dead grass, with an occasional 

 admixture of horsehair. The eggs 



number from four to six, although five 

 is usually the commonest clutch. They 

 are greyish white in ground colour, and 

 thickly covered with light to dusky brown 

 spots. In many specimens the markings 

 converge to such an extent that they 

 make a dark brown mass, especially 

 round the larger end. They always lack 

 the warm tint which is so characteristic 

 of the eggs of the Tree Pipit. 



This wee brown bird is pre-eminently 

 useful to the cuckoo, for it rears a 

 greater number of young belonging to 

 that parasitic species than any other 

 British bird, whilst its own chicks fre- 

 quently form the staple diet of the 

 offspring of the merlin. 



It shows its relationship to the wagtail 

 family by the constant, if slower, move- 

 ments of its caudal appendage, and gene- 

 rally betrays the presence of its nest 

 containing young by hovering round, 

 meanwhile uttering notes that sound 

 like trit, trit, trit. 



