CXIV. 



ANTHUS ARB0REU8. (Beciist.) 

 Tree Pipit. 



Of the Land Birds there is no species the eggs of which 

 present so many or such distinct varieties, as those of the 

 Tree Pipit. Of the most prominent of these for contrast, and 

 for their beauty and richness of colouring, I have done my 

 best to give a tolerable representation in the plate. Of Fig. 1 

 I have seen but few specimens. Fig. 2 is the most common, 

 with another variety resembling it in the same closely freckled 

 appearance ; but of a different and darker colour, and very 

 nearly like, in that respect, the eggs of the Meadow 

 Pipit, or Tit Lark, from which they are however easily dis- 

 tinguished by their greater size and more rounded form. 

 Fig. 3, and the richly coloured variety Fig. 4, are of about 

 equal occurrence. With the exception of Fig. 1, I possess 

 all the other varieties in abundance, taken whilst at school ; 

 and had there been another species of bird to which they 

 could belong, their great difference would have rendered their 

 identity doubtful. I have, however, for some years taken 

 particular pains to establish all of these varieties beyond a 

 doubt, having caught the bird upon them, and also received 

 specimens of each from my friend Mr. Doubleday, taken in 

 the same way. 



In woody countries the Tree Pipit is very abundant, and 

 in none more so than in Devonshire, Somersetshire, and some 

 parts of Cumberland ; differing in this its choice from the 

 very closely assimilated species, the Tit Lark, which, though 

 it may be met with in the more cultivated districts, is far 

 more abundant on the open heaths, where it is followed by 

 the Cuckoo. The nest of the Tree Pipit is composed chiefly 

 of dry grass, mixed with moss, lined with finer grasses, and 



