206 Mr. W. E. Brooks on some 



XVIII, — A feiv Observations on some Species 0/ Anthus and 

 Budytes. By W. Edwin Brooks. 



Anthus blakistoxi^ Swinhoe = ^. neglectus, Brooks. 



This Pipit was first described by Mr. Swinhoe (P. Z. S, 1863, 

 p. 90) . The description is correct as far as colour of plumage 

 is concerned ; but the bird^s legs and feet are conspicuously 

 lighter in colour than those of Anthus s^nnoletta. My term 

 of "brown '^ is better than Mr. Swinhoe^s of " blackish brown." 

 The legs and feet of Mr. SAvinhoe's examples^ however, may 

 have dried rather dark. I noted the colour from the fresh 

 birds. The total length given by Mr. Swinhoe is clearly 

 wrong ; so also with regard to length of wing. I have shot 

 about forty examples ; and the greatest total length observed 

 was 6'3, the longest wing 3*4, longest tail 2*65. 



In the ' Proceedings ' of the Zoological Society for 1871, 

 p. 365, Mr. Swinhoe referred his A. blakistoni to A. spino- 

 letta ; and Mr. Dresser, in his ' Birds of Europe,^ repeated the 

 identification. This I accepted as correct; and knowing that 

 my Anthus neglectus was as distinct from A. spinoletta as one 

 Pipit could well be from another, I described the former as 

 new in 'The Ibis^ for October 1876, p. 501. 



The fall of Anthus seehohmi led me to think further about 

 my Pipit; and a few days ago I saw Mr. Swinhoe, who kindly 

 showed me his specimen of Anthus blakistoni. This I found, 

 beyond all doubt, to be identical in size and colour with my 

 A. neglectus, which name must therefore sink to the rank of 

 a synonym. 



I was able to show Mr. Swinhoe a good series of my bird, 

 sufficient to convince him that Anthus blakistoni is a smaller 

 Water-Pij)it than Anthus spinoletta, and differently marked 

 on both the back and the breast. 



A third good species of Water- Pipit is Anthus japonicus, 

 T. & S. This is a large bird like A. spinoletta, the back 

 greyish and indistinctly marked ; but its breast is much tinged 

 with reddish buff, and the spots are large and beautifully dis- 

 tinct. Anthus spinoletta and A. blakistoni lose their breast- 

 spots in full breeding-plumage ; certainly the male does ; but 



