46 



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NEST AND EGGS OF THE TITLARK. 



PLATE XLVI. 



The foundation of the nest before me, consists of a 

 mixture of moss and dry grass, with which also the 

 greatest part of the work is constructed ; only the fin- 

 est part is employed in the inside and about the lin- 

 ing, in which a few fine fibres of roots, and a few hairs 

 are mixed. The number of eggs is most commonly 

 five. I know no bird whose eggs are so variable in 

 colour as those of the Titlark. I have figured the 

 most beautiful variety in the nest, plate 46. There is 

 a variety which is of a dirty gray, having spots of a 

 dark dusky colour. There is another with the ground 

 a dark dull brown, and the spots black. Albin saw 

 them of a dark brown colour, and Mr. Walcot met 

 with them of a pale green. 



But in all these states, the species may be known 

 by having a regard to the spots ; for they are not only 

 larger than the spots on the eggs of any other species 

 of Lark, but they are also softened into the ground 

 colour, like the spots on the eggs of the Chaffinch, 

 which those of the eggs of other Larks are not. 



