356 Mr. P. L. Sclater on the Neotropical Pipits. 



which exhibit the grey bar across the wing. Of these 

 four females, one, now preserved in the Norwich Museum, 

 was obtained in Natal by Mr. Ayres, who marked it as a 

 female ; a second, also ticketed as a female, died at Knowsley, 

 and is now in the Derby Museum at Liverpool ; and the two 

 others, both marked as females by the collectors, and pre- 

 served in the British Museum, were obtained, the one by Mr. 

 Petherick in Kordofan, the other by Mr. Blanford at Bedjak 

 in Abyssinia. This last specimen, I may add, has, by a clerical 

 error, been entered in the list of specimens, at p. 301 of Mr. 

 Sharpens volume, as a male. 



In conclusion, it may be useful to note that, in both edi- 

 tions of Mr. Layard's ' Birds of South Africa,^ an error has 

 by some accident crept into the account there given of the 

 adult plumage of H. ecaudatus, which is described as having 

 '' the lesser wing-coverts rufous." They are always, so far as 

 I have observed, of a lustrous stone- coloured brown, darker 

 in some individuals than in others, but never in any degree 



rufous. 



[To be continued.] 



XXV. — Pi'eliminary Remarks on the Neotropical Pipits. 

 By P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S. 



(Plate X.) 



If the Pipits of the Palsearctic Region, and even those of 

 Europe, are not yet fairly understood, as would seem evident 

 by what has been lately written on them by Mr. Seebohm, 

 Mr. Dresser, and other ornithologists, how much less likely 

 is it that we should be well acquainted with those of South 

 America ? The latter are indeed in a sad state of confusion ; 

 and though I have been collecting American Pipits for many 

 years, and endeavouring to get together a good series of spe- 

 cimens from authentic localities, it is only now that I feel in 

 a position to improve matters a little by putting forward the 

 conclusions I have come to in the shape of a preliminary re- 

 vision of such of the species as are found within the limits 

 of South and Central America. 



