CONCEALED OR COVERED NESTS 113 



under a flat stone. This nest is made externally of 

 moss and dry grass, and lined with finer fibres and 

 hairs. The Rock Pipit {A. obscurus), a dweller on the 

 sea coast, especially of the British Islands, finds a 

 very favourite nest site under a large flat stone, or in 

 a crevice of the rocks and cliffs close to the water. 

 This cup-shaped nest also varies considerably in its 

 materials, sometimes being entirely made of fine dry 

 grass ; at other times this material is mixed with 

 moss, bits of dry seaweed, and stalks of plants. 

 Many nests are only lined with finer grass ; others 

 are neatly finished with hair, and very exceptionally a 

 feather or two are introduced. Some of the Wagtails 

 (belonging to the same family as the pipits) are also 

 very partial to nesting under stones and in crevices of 

 rocks, making cup-shaped nests — more substantial, as 

 a rule, than those of the Pipits — of dry grass, straws, 

 stalks, twigs, roots, fibres, dry leaves, moss, and other 

 vegetable fragments, lined with finer fibres, hair, wool, 

 and feathers. It is noteworthy that some species of 

 Wagtails more habitually nest amongst vegetation on 

 banks, but their homes are generally well concealed ; 

 whilst it is also worthy of remark that the rock- 

 nesting species have availed themselves in numbers 

 of instances of sites furnished by walls and other 

 masonry as well as the other handiwork of man 

 That beautiful Arctic bird, the Snow Bunting (Plectra- 

 phenax nivalis), must be my last example of rock and 

 stone builders. The nest of this species is carefully 



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