The nest is built on the ground, and is generally sheltered by a tuft of herbage growing on a grassy bank. It is composed of rootlets and moss with an inner lining of fine grass and hair. The eggs number from four to six, of very variable coloration. Some are dull white, so closely mottled and spotted with dark brown as to almost hide the ground colour, whilst others have the greyish-white ground colour tinged with purple, and are spotted and clouded with purple-brown and purple-red. The Tree Pipit arrives upon our shores in April and leaves again in September and October. [Illustration: landscape] [Illustration: flowers] =THE WOODLARK.= The Woodlark is not nearly so common or widely distributed as the Skylark, and is frequently thought to be heard and seen when the bird under observation is really only a Tree Pipit. It is smaller than the Skylark, and has a much shorter tail and more conspicuous crest. Although of somewhat similar coloration, it has a distinct light yellowish streak running over each eye and meeting at the back of the head; the breast spots are more distinct; and its flight always appears to me to be more undulatory. The Woodlark is a shy creature, but had it not been for the very wet and benumbingly cold weather prevailing at the time I figured the young one shown in our illustration on page 56--which could fly quite well--I feel sure that I could have photographed one or both of the parent birds feeding it. This species is considered by many people to come next to the Nightingale as one of Nature’s Carol Singers. Its voice is certainly sweeter in tone, though it lacks both the power and variety of that of the Common Skylark. Yarrell says that “its soothing notes never sound more sweetly than while the performer is mounting in the air by wide circles, or, having attained the summit of its lofty flight, is hanging almost stationary overhead.” That is exactly how the bird’s delightfully flute-like notes affect me, although many people find an element of sadness in them. Burns, for instance, considered the Woodlark’s song a mixture of love and sorrow, and exclaimed: “For pity’s sake, sweet bird, nae mair Or my poor heart is broken.” It sings whilst perched upon a tree, and sometimes its clear, tender notes may be heard ringing out during a fine summer’s night. [Illustration: WOODLARK’S NEST AND EGGS.] The call notes of the species are a very musical double one, sounding something like _lu-lu_ and _tweedle, weedle, weedle_, uttered on the wing. The Woodlark, like the Tree Pipit, although roosting upon the ground, procuring its food and rearing its young there, must have some kind of timber, whether it be great belts of fir, with pastures and dry, heather-clad commons between, or bare hillsides with scattered clumps of oak and bushes here and there to make its home amongst. [Illustration: NEWLY FLEDGED WOODLARK.]