144 



ROCK-PIPIT. 



the Land's End. A woodcut of this form is given below. Our 

 dull-coloured race is found in the Channel Islands and along the 

 northern and western shores of France ; while it is represented by 

 the Scandinavian form to the eastward and in the Baltic. 



The nest, generally in a clump of sea-pink, a grassy bank, or a 

 crevice of the rocks on the sea-shore, is made of dry grasses and 

 sometimes sea-tang ; the 4-5 eggs are usually greenish-grey mottled 

 with olive-brown, but I have seen reddish ones, like those of a 

 Tree-Pipit : measurements "8 by "6 in. Two broods are produced 

 in the season. The food consists of marine insects, flies, small 

 molluscs and crustaceans, for which the bird may be seen searching 

 among the heaps of sea-weed on the shore at low water. 



The adult is olive-brown with darker streaks above ; the under 

 parts being dull ochreous-olive streaked with brown on the breast. 

 At its best the plumage is much like that of the Water-Pipit in 

 winter, but more olive, and the exterior tail-feathers have smoke- 

 coloured outer webs, so that the under side of the tail seems nearly 

 uniform brown. The young are more striated. Length 6 "2 5 in. ; 



Pycnonotid.b. — An example of the South-African Bulbul or 

 " Gold- vented Thrush," Fyawtiotiis cape7isis, was shot near Water- 

 ford, Ireland, in January 1838, and skinned by the late Dr. R. 

 Birkett. Considering the natural habitat of the bird, and the time 

 of year, it is only reasonable to suppose that it had escaped from 

 confinement. 



