138 TAWNY PIPIT. 
Damaraland on the west side of Africa, and the Lake districts on 
the east. From Palestine and Asia Minor we trace it to Turkestan 
and the plains of North-western India; while from Central Asia to 
Eastern Siberia it is represented by a smaller race of doubtful 
specific distinctness. It is essentially a desert-loving species, and 
even when migrating will seldom be found on fertile or well-watered 
soil, but on plains sprinkled with a little coarse herbage it is 
usually abundant, up to an elevation of about 5,000 feet in Southern 
Europe. It crosses the Mediterranean from the end of March 
onwards, and reaches the shores of the Baltic late in April; while 
the return migration takes place in August and September. 
The nest is placed at the foot of a shrub or bush—on the lee-side 
where there is a prevalent wind—and sometimes among growing 
barley ; the materials being roots and dry grass, with a lining of 
horsehair. The eggs, 5-6 in number, are of a greyish-white, 
blotched and streaked with darker grey and purplish-brown ; 
resembling, as already observed (p. 74), those of the Rufous 
Warbler: measurements ‘85 by ‘62 in. The food consists of small 
insects, but seldom or never of seeds. This species does not 
collect in large flocks, like other Pipits. The call-note is a short 
whit; and the song, usually uttered during a brief fluttering flight, 
is poor and monotonous. 
The adult male in spring is sandy-brown tinged with grey on the 
upper parts, with dull darker centres to the feathers, more marked 
on the crown, but almost obsolete on the rump:; over the eye a 
buffish-white streak ; ear-coverts ash-brown ; wing-coverts dark brown 
with buff edges; quills and secondaries umber-brown, with tawny 
margins; the outer pair of tail-feathers dull white, with a large 
portion of the margin of the inner web brown; in the second pair 
the brown extends nearly to the shaft, which is also brown, as are 
the remaining tail-feathers ; from the base of the bill to the eye a 
faint dusky stripe ; chin and throat tawny-white ; breast warmer buff, 
slightly striated with brown ; lower parts paler ; bill brown above, 
yellowish below ; legs and feet yellowish-brown. Length 6’5 in; 
wing 3°6 in. The female is slightly smaller than the male, and is 
said to be often without the streaks on the breast, but the least 
spotted bird in a series before me isa male. From the autumn 
moult to the early part of the following spring the tints are much 
more tawny, and, in young birds, are pronounced on the margins of 
the wing and tail-feathers, while the brown markings of the upper 
parts and of the breast are more intense. 
