ANTHUS. 213 



Gurliwal and described in ' Lahore to Tarkand,' p. 76, cannot liave 

 belonged to it. 



Trom Miirree Colonel C. H. T. Marshall writes : — " Eough-mado 

 nest of grass. Breeds from May till middle of July, low down the 

 hill-side. Lays four eggs, much resembling the eggs of other 

 species of this family. We took six nests, and twice found the 

 Common Cuckoo's eggs in them. They do not breed above 6000 

 feet up." 



The eggs sent me by Colonel Marshall are barely, if at all, 

 separable from tiiose of Oreocorys sylvanus. I have a great num- 

 ber of the eggs of this latter species, many taken with my own 

 bauds, so that there can be no doubt, I think, as to the authenti- 

 city of these. Colonel Marshall, again, has taken numerous nests 

 of the present species, and he is equally certain of the authenticity 

 of his eggs ; either one or other of us is wrong, or it is a fact 

 (which is hardly credible) that the eggs of Oreocorys sylvaims and 

 Agrodroma jerdoni {A. sordida, Eiippell cq^iud Jerdon) are in- 

 separable ! 



Major Wardlaw Eamsay, who found the nest of this Pipit in 

 Afghanistan, unfortunately merely remarks : — " I found the nest 

 on the 22nd June under a small bush at the foot of a rock. It 

 was neatly let into the ground, and contained three eggs, which I 

 regret not being able to describe, as my collection of eggs has not 

 yet arrived from India." 



The eggs sent by Colonel Marshall are moderately broad, fairly 

 regular, ovals, somewhat compressed or pointed towards one end ; 

 the shells are compact and tine, but almost entirely devoid of 

 gloss. The ground-colour is a brownish or greyish white, and they 

 are profusely speckled, spotted, and streaked, and in places 

 blotched and clouded, with a sort of sienna-brown and a pale 

 dingy half-washed-out colour, which varies from pale sepia to pale 

 inky purple. The markings are everywhere thickly set, but they 

 are much most dense towards the large end, where they very gene- 

 rally form a more or less confluent cap. Some of the eggs have 

 all the markings somewhat purple, and others have them browner. 

 In length these eggs vary from 0-82 to 0-87, and in breadth from 

 0-62 to 0-65. 



Anthus rufulus, Vieill. The Common Pipit. 



Corydalla rufula ( Vieill), Jerd. B. Inch ii, p. 232 ; Hume, Rouah 

 Draft N. ^ E. no. 600. 



The Common Pipit or Indian Tit-Lark breeds (though, according 

 to my experience, somewhat sparingly) all over the plains of 

 India, as also in the Himalayas, up to elevations of 5000 or 6000 

 feet. 



I have very seldom found its nest ; the few I have seen have all 

 been placed on the ground and under or in the midst of tufts of 

 grass. All have been shallow or saucer-like nests, composed of 



