I40 RICHARDS PIPIT. 



Seebohm found both old and young in August, up to 58^^ N. lat. ; 

 and the bird nests abundantly on the elevated steppes of Eastern 

 Turkestan, the Lake Baikal district and Mongolia. In winter it 

 visits South China, Burma, and the Indian region to Ceylon. 



The nest is built during the early part of June, in some depression 

 in a meadow or grass-field ; and the eggs, which, judging from the 

 clutches obtained by Dybowski, are generally 5 in number, are 

 greyish-white blotched with various shades of brown : measurements 

 •86 by "68 in. In Daiiria the Cuckoo frequently deposits her egg in 

 the nest of this Pipit. Two broods are sometimes reared in the 

 season ; and in September the southward migration commences. 

 In winter the bird is described by Mr. Brooks as frequenting paddy- 

 grounds and vetch-fields in Bengal, where it is very wary, keeping a 

 sharp look-out, with head erect and outstretched neck ; but Col. 

 Legge found it very tame in the wet pastures of Ceylon. Its usual 

 call-note is loud, and calculated to attract attention, while it has also 

 a soft double chirp like that of a Bunting. The ordinary flight 

 is undulating and strong. Col. Legge says this bird feeds on 

 worms and grasshoppers, and often seizes a passing butterfly or 

 insect on the wing. The name was conferred in honour of 

 M. Richard, of Luneville in Lorraine. 



The male in breeding-plumage has the feathers of the upper 

 parts sandy-brown with dark centres, producing a mottled Lark- like 

 appearance ; rump nearly uniform brown, tail-coverts striated ; wing- 

 coverts tipped with reddish-buff; secondaries broadly — and primaries 

 faintly — margined with huffish- white ; outer pair of tail-feathers 

 nearly white, with only a narrow dusky margin to the inner web ; in 

 the second pair the dusky margin extends nearly to the tip, and 

 the shaft also is brown ; remaining tail-feathers very dark brown, 

 with pale and often huffish margins to the central pair ; chin white ; 

 a dotted line of brown spots from the base of the bill down each 

 side of the neck to the gorget, which is still more spotted on a buff 

 ground-colour extending down the flanks ; abdomen dull white ; 

 bill dark brown above, yellowish below ; legs and feet yellowish- 

 brown : hind claw generally longer than the toe. Length 7*25 in. ; 

 wing 375 in. The female is smaller, but similar in plumage. In 

 autumn a decidedly more rufous tint pervades the upper and, still 

 more, the under parts. In the young the pale margins to the upper 

 feathers and the streaks on the under parts are more pronounced. 

 A specimen in my collection, which I take to be a bird of the 

 previous year, obtained at Malaga on March 15th, is renewing its 

 tail-feathers. 



