NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS, 45 



Family MOTACILLID.'E. Genus Anthus. 



RED-THROATED PIPIT. 



Anthus cervinus {Pallas). 



(British: Rare abnormal spring migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, June and beginning of July. 



Breeding area : Northern Palaearctic region. The 

 Red-throated Pipit breeds on the tundras above the 

 limits of forest growth, from the /\tlantic to the Pacific. 

 It breeds locally and in comparatively small numbers 

 in Northern Scandinavia, in Lapland, and Northern 

 Russia. East of the Urals it becomes more abundant, 

 and breeds on the tundras of Siberia as far east as 

 Kamtschatka and, it is to be presumed, Bering Island. 



Breeding habits: The Red-throated Pipit is an- 

 other marsh-loving species, frequenting during the 

 breeding season the vast Arctic tundras, where it is 

 described as being one of the commonest birds. Its 

 favourite haunts are similar to those selected by the 

 Lapland Bunting — swamps where the grass is short, 

 and the wetter portions are divided up into sections by 

 a multitude of drier ridges and tussocks of turf. Al- 

 though it migrates to its breeding grounds in flocks, 

 the males generally being the first to arrive, the bird 

 is not gregarious during the breeding season, but many 

 scattered pairs dwell in more or less close companion- 

 ship. This Pipit arrives at its summer haunts shortly 

 after the break-up of winter, and begins to breed very 

 soon after its arrival. Pairing apparently does not take 

 place until the nesting grounds are reached. In its 

 habits it differs little from allied species. The nest is 

 made upon the ground, and the favourite site is in the 

 side of a tussock on the drier part of the tundra. It 



