  This species, which very closely resembles the Meadow Pipit but is slightly larger, is found along the rocky coasts of our islands. It is strictly an inhabitant of the sea-shore and never wanders inland, but finds its food, which consists of flies, small mollusca, and marine insects, on the beach and rocks or among the rough tangle of sea-weed left dry by the retreating tide. The nest is placed on the ground, in some crevice of the rocks, or in a grassy bank, and the eggs, large for the size of the bird, are pale greenish grey, uniformly and densely mottled with olive brown. This species is largely migratory, and after the breeding season wanders round the whole of our coasts, inhabiting in winter the salt marshes and estuaries of our eastern and southern counties, as well as the more rocky portions of our shores. Its song and call-note are almost indistinguishable from that of the Meadow Pipit, and if the nest be approached it flies restlessly from rock to rock, calling out all the time, but does not hover round in the air like the commoner species. Birds from Scandinavia, Denmark, and the Baltic are distinguishable from our form, which is also found on the adjacent coast of France, in being of a vinous tint on the breast during the breeding season. The Scandinavian form may be found sparingly on our shores during migration. The sexes are alike in plumage. The general colour above is olive brown with dark centres to the feathers; the under parts are greenish buff streaked with brown on the breast and flanks. The tail is brown, except the outer webs of the tail feathers, which are smoky grey, and this forms an easy characteristic by which this species may be distinguished from the Water Pipit, which it otherwise closely resembles. Length 6·25 in.; wing 3·5 in. |
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