The Water-Pipit. The Rock-Pipit. 207 



Family— MO TA CIL LID.^. 



The Water-Pipit. 



Aiithus spipoli'tta, Linn. 



ONLY four examples of this species, all from Sussex, has been recognized : 

 I, therefore, do not consider that (at present) it has much claim to be 

 regarded as British : at best it is but a chance and very rare straggler 

 to our shores. 



Family— MO TA CILLID.F. 



The Rock-Pipit. 



Atithus obscurus, Lath. 



SEEBOHM says that the " Rock-Pipit is little more than a coast-form of the 

 Water- Pipit, and appears to be confined to the rocky portions of the coasts 

 of North- Western Europe, from the White Sea to the Bay of Biscay. It is 

 found on the shores of the Baltic ; but there is no satisfactory evidence of its 

 frequenting those of the Mediterranean. It is a resident throughout its range, except 

 in the extreme north." 



" The Rock-Pipit is a resident on all the coasts of the British Islands, with 

 the exception of the low-lying eastern shores south of Spurn, where it only appears 

 as a straggler or on migration. It is found commonly in the Channel Islands, in 



