232 Letlers, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



prepared specimens to England, and, with the late Mr. Yarrell, 

 whose friendship I had the happiness to possess, I went through 

 a minute comparison of my skins and the skins in his posses- 

 sion of the A. pratensls obtained in England and other parts of 

 the world, and I was fortified by his veteran experience in con- 

 cluding that the Madeiran specimens were in no degree entitled 

 to be distinguished from specimens of the A. pratensis from 

 other parts. 



I agree with M. BoUe in thinking that ^^it is more than a 

 probability, it is almost a certainty, that the Pipit of Madeira, 

 which is figured in the catalogues of the birds of that island 

 under the name of A. pratensis, is identical with the A. berthe- 

 lotii" of M. Bolle, Indeed the words attributed by M. Bolleto 

 Mr. J. Yate Johnson, and used to corroborate this opinion, are a 

 verbal quotation, whether acknowledged or not, from my paper 

 in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,^ ser. 2. vol. xv. 

 p. 433. 



Description of the Anthus pratensis of Madeira, taken from 

 specimens in the flesh. 

 Anthus pratensis, Bechst. ; Meadow Pipit. Portuguese, Coire 

 de Carninho. inches. lines. 



Entire length 6 3 



Length of bill from forehead ... Q^ 



„ „ gape 8'- 



Length of tarsus 10^ 



„ hind toe, claw included . . 9 



„ tail • • ^ ^'2- 



From carpus to the end of the wing . 2 lOi 



Upper parts greyish brown, in the centre of the feathers a 

 mark of olive-brown, above the eye a yellowish-white streak ; 

 throat, vent, and under tail-coverts brownish white ; the rest of 

 the under parts white, marked with streaks of greyish brown ; 

 quills and tail rusty brown ; the outer tail-feather white on the 

 outer web, with a large conical mark of white on the inner web; 

 the second tail-feather with a smaller conical mark of white on 

 the irmer web; bill brown on the upper mandible and tip, 

 yellowish white at the base of the under mandible ; feet light 



