Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of British North America. 39 



great facility. Mr. Collins's Pipit^ though rather hard hit, is 

 evidently older than Swaysland's, and is also, I believe, a male. 

 It seems probable, when we consider the time it was killed, that 

 it had bred somewhere in this country, perhaps not far oflf, and 

 was then thinking of departure. The Rottingdean bird likewise 

 had migration in view, doubtless. I have preserved the sternum 

 of the latter. Mr. Tristram, in his catalogue of 1858, says of 

 this bird, " it is the Pipit of the Sahara Desert, and its eggs vary 

 as widely as those of the Tree Pipit in England;" and Mr. 

 Wheelwi'ight states the Tawny Pipit [A. campestris, Briss.) to 

 occur in Sweden, " where it is confined to the sandy shores of 

 the south." Notwithstanding its wide range, it is strange that 

 no examples have previously been recorded here. A genuine 

 British-taken nest of eggs of Anthus rufescens may not be im- 

 possible, therefore, to a pains-taking Sussex collector or others ; 

 and that such a piece of good fortune may befall some of his 

 ' Ibis ' friends is the sincere desire and wish of the individual 

 who has ventured to trouble them with this communication. 



VI. — On the Birds of the Interior of British North America. 

 By Captain Blakiston. 



When I first thought of a communication on this subject, my 

 intention was simply to supply additional notes concerning speci- 

 mens collected during my wanderings in the Indian country, 

 between Hudson^s Bay and the Rocky Mountains, in 1857, 1858, 

 and 1859, which I was prevented from attaching to the list 

 published in ^The Ibis^ (Nos. 12 and 13) by the shortness 

 of my stay in England previous to leaving for China. On going 

 through my note-books, however, I found many observations on 

 birds that I had not been fortunate enough to preserve specimens 

 of, which I considered ought not to be lost ; and having, when 

 identifying my collection, rummaged up most that was pre- 

 viously known respecting the ornithology of the northern part 

 of the American continent, which I found much scattered, I 

 determined upon making this as complete a list as possible of 

 the birds inhabiting the interior portion of the vast tract stretch- 

 ing from ocean to ocean, known as British North America. 



