88 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
and mountain-side wastes, as well as of tussocky 
links and sand-dunes by the sea, but it is also 
often found in the fields of lowland and cultivated 
districts. Its appearance and habits have for the 
most part just been described under the heading 
of the Tree Pipit, which it much resembles. The 
nest is built among grass-tussocks, heather, or 
other herbage, often in some slight hollow in the 
soil, and is made of dry grass, with a finer lining 
of the same sort. It may be found with eggs 
from April to July. Four to six eggs are laid ; 
they are greyish in ground colour, densely freckled 
with deep brown, and have often a long black 
scribbling or two at the larger end. 
The Rock Pipit {Anthus ohscurus\ the third 
regular British species of this family, and a resident 
all the year round, is a sea-coast bird, and does not 
therefore come within the plan of this book. It is 
common on the rocky and turfy slopes of cliffs, 
and much resembles the other two species, though 
it is slightly larger than either in size. 
RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 
(^Lanius collurio.) 
Butcher-bird. — This interesting bird is the only 
member of its family which breeds in Britain, and 
is itself rather local in its distribution, being only 
