Mr. P. L. Sclater on the Neotropical Pipits. 361 



Anthus peruvianus, Nicholson, P. Z. S, 1878, p. 291 (?) 

 This little Anthus is at once recognizable by its small size, 

 the wing barely exceeding 2^ inches in any specimens, and 

 being generally less. It is with some hesitation that I con- 

 tinue to use for it the name " rufus," bestowed by Gmelin 

 upon the " Petite alouette de Buenos Ayres," otherwise " Le 

 variole " of Buffou. If the bird so designated was really ob- 

 tained by Commerson upon the banks of the Kio de la Plata, 

 as BufFon tells us, it is much more likely to have been A. cor- 

 rendera ; and Burmeister has actually applied Gmelin's term 

 to the latter species. But errors in locality are not very 

 uncommon in BuflFon^s works, as every one knows ; and, taking 

 this view, I will continue to call this little species by the 

 name applied to it by Messrs. Lawrence and Baird. This is 

 the more convenient because I have just shown that the 

 name chii, often used for it, most probably belongs else- 

 where. 



Anthus rufus, then, as we will call it, has an extensive 

 range. It is not uncommon in Rio collections, and is, I 

 believe, the only species found in that part of Brazil. Natterer 

 obtained ten examples of it near Rio, " on the puddles in the 

 roads and in the swamps" (no. 168 of his collection). In 

 Salvin and Godman's collection is a skin forwarded from 

 Bahia by Dr. Wucherer. Proceeding northwards, I have a 

 skin of this species obtained by Mr. Wallace on the island of 

 Mexiana, at the mouth of the Amazons, where, Mr. Wallace 

 tells us, it is " tolerably plentiful on the open dry plains.''^ 

 From Guiana I have seen but a single immature specimen, in 

 the collection of the Smithsonian Institution (no. 70,695). 

 A single skin in my own collection is labelled Trinidad, but 

 was perhaps obtained in the savannahs of the opposite coast 

 of Venezuela, whence many " Trinidad " skins are certainly 

 derived. I liave also before me two specimens from Panama 

 (one of which is the type of A. parvus of Lawrence) and one 

 from Veragua ; and I fully share Mr. Salvin^s views (given 

 P. Z. S. 1867, p. 135) as to the difficulty of separating these 

 from Brazilian examples. 



Going noAv to the west coast of South America, I have 



