370 Letters, Announcements , ^c. 



already breeding. He also instances the fact of a Red-Sea 

 specimen agreeing in size with a small Sussex specimen^ 

 rather as if that disproved the existence of a smaller race. I 

 do not quite see that ; for as the smaller bird does not stay 

 with us in the winter, but arrives in May, it is obviously a 

 southern bird, and in point of fact has been recorded as occur- 

 ring in Egypt, Malta, Natal, India, South China, and Hainan, 

 There is therefore nothing surprising in a Red-Sea specimen 

 agreeing with a small Sussex specimen. Mr. Dresser adds 

 that his Egyptian examples agree with our British species, 

 which leaves it open to doubt whether they are small in 

 size or dark in colour. Shelley considers that the small 

 dark form prevails to the exclusion of the other in Egypt. 

 Those I saw at Damietta last spring were decidedly dark in 

 colour compared with those I found in Iceland and Sutherland. 

 Lastly, as regards the vinous-breasted form of Rock-Pipit, 

 Mr. Dresser figures what he calls a very fine specimen of the 

 vinous-breasted variety in his plate ; but to my eye the colour- 

 ing is dull buff, not vinous at all. A really good specimen 

 has the breast bright rosy, as may be seen in Mr. Booth^s 

 museum at Brighton. But there is another strong point of 

 distinction in this form, viz. the grey tinge of the head and 

 nape in spring. Many of the back-feathers are also washed 

 with slaty grey, particularly towards the rump. Apart from 

 this, I doubt the Rock-Pipit's ever being of such a clear pale 

 greyish olive above, or so thinly spotted below as the Anthus 

 rupestris, although Mr. Dresser and Mr. Booth unite in affirm- 

 ing that A. rupestris and A. obscurus are undistinguishable in 

 winter plumage. I have an A. rupestris distinguishable by 

 traces of grey in the upper plumage, but with no vinous co- 

 louring on the breast ; and this bird diflFers most conspicuously 

 from a true Rock-Pipit, which, if not in winter, is, at any 

 rate, not in strong summer plumage. The A. rupestris is a 

 pale greyish-olive bird, with faint traces of slaty grey on the 

 head and back, and the breast distinctly striped on a whitish 

 ground, while the A. obscurus is a brownish-olive bii'd, almost 

 as brown as a Thrush, and thickly, almost continuously striped 

 on the breast. The contrast is very strong indeed, though 

 possibly other specimens may come nearer together. 



