BROWN BIRDS WITH SPOTTED BREASTS. 79 



pale edgings ; buff eyebrows ; under parts buffish- 

 white, spotted with deep browji on breast and 

 flanks ; central tail-feathers dark, outer ones white. 

 Kesident. 



Eggs. — 4—6, grayish-white, or sometimes with a 

 greenish or pinkish shade, mottled all over with dark 

 brown; -TSx-S? inch (plate 125)! 



Nest. — Of dry grass, lined with finer grass and 

 hair, and placed on the ground under shelter of a tuft. 



Distribution.— General. 



A bird of the open, and to be met from the 

 seaside, through grass and arable lands, up to 

 the moor-top. It is also very partial to stream- 

 banks and water-meadows. Although occasionally 

 perching on trees or hedge-tops, it is pre-eminently 

 a ground-bird. It is on the ground that it nests and 

 feeds, tripping hither and thither with a walking 

 gait, at each pause wagging its tail up and down like 

 a Wagtail. Its flight is marked by spasmodic vibra- 

 tions of the wings, alternating with intervals during 

 which the wings are closed ; it is therefore undulatory. 

 It has also an aimless, erratic flight ; and as the bird 

 takes wing or whilst flying it emits a brisk ' Wheel ! 

 wheet ! ' The outer tail-feathers are conspicuously 

 white during the flight. The song begins in March, 

 and though occasionally delivered from the ground or 

 from some low perch, is generally accompanied by a 

 distinctive flight. The bird mounts, with body almost 

 erect, at a very sharp angle, to a height of about 

 fifty feet, sometimes singing as it rises, at others 

 beginning to sing only when turning to descend. 



Uboratory of Ornithology 

 159 Sapsucker Woods Road 

 Cornell University 

 athaca. New York 14851 



