THIRD SEASON (1920): PRELIMINARY 37 
taught me that, at least as often as not, this species 
will lay its first egg of a second, a third, occasionally 
a fourth, and even a fifth clutch, on the fifth 
morning after the destruction of its previous nest. 
Meadow Pipits may normally be expected to have 
a new nest with one or more eggs by the eighth 
day. 
Now whereas the eggs of different Meadow 
Pipits are often difficult to distinguish, and never 
show such contrasts as do the eggs of Tree Pipits, 
it is also a curious fact that those laid by the same 
individual Meadow Pipit, whether in the same 
or consecutive nests, sometimes vary. This fact 
greatly complicated the task of identifying the lay- 
ings and relayings of each of the nine pairs. 
Nevertheless we placed identification before long 
upon a sure footing, not only by keeping a careful 
daily record of all observations made upon each 
pair of Meadow Pipits and upon each nest found, 
but also by calling to our aid the process of elimina- 
tion. In this manner we provided a double check 
whereby we knew when we had found all the nests 
available on any particular day. So soon as it 
became a matter of certainty that there were nine, 
and only nine, pairs of Meadow Pipits, they were 
numbered for reference purposes in the order of 
