248 Z BRITISH BIRDS. 
ANTHUS SPINOLETTA. 
ALPINE PIPIT. 
(Prate 14.) 
Alauda campestris, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 349 (1760). 
Alauda spinoletta*, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p> 288 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Gmelin, (Bonaparte), (Degland § Gerbe), (Salvadori), (Newton), (Dresser), &e. 
Anthus aquaticus, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 564 (1812). 
Anthus montanus, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. 1. p. 179 (1816). 
Anthus coutellii, Aud. Descr. de l’ Egypte, p. 360, pl. 5. fig. 5 (1828). 
Anthus spinoletta (Zinn.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 18 (1838). 
Anthus nigripes, Eh. fide Dresser, B. Eur, iti. p. 835 (1874). 
The Alpine Pipit has only been obtained in our islands, without doubt, 
three or four times. The first clearly identified specimens were recorded 
by Mr. J. Pratt in the ‘Zoologist’ for 1864 (Gould, ‘Ibis,’ 1865, p. 114). 
One was killed near Worthing, and another some time previously on the 
beach near Brighton. A third specimen was killed at Shoreham on the 
26th of October, 1868 (Dawson Rowley, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1869, p. 1682). 
The Alpine Pipit may almost be said to be a circumpolar bird. It will, 
however, be more convenient to subdivide it into three forms—a Western 
Palearctic, an Eastern Palearctic, and a Nearctic form, the first two 
differing only in size and the last two differing only in colour, and all of 
them connected by intermediate forms and overlapping each other’s ranges 
in a very extraordinary manner. The European Alpine Pipit (A. spznoletta) 
is a very local resident in most parts of mountainous Europe. It has not 
been recorded from Scandinavia or North-west Russia; but it is said to 
pass through Denmark and Heligoland on migration, and it appears to 
breed in the Ural Mountains up to lat. 64°. It winters in South Germany, 
Holland, Belgium, Asia Minor, Palestine, Algeria, and Egypt. In the 
mountainous parts of Spain, France, North Germany, and especially in the 
Alps, it is found in winter only on the plains, breeding on the mountains. 
It breeds in the highlands of Persia and Baluchistan, and winters in 
Afghanistan. It is a resident in Turkestan, and has been obtained from 
the Altai Mountains. The eastern form of the Alpine Pipit, 4. spinoletta 
var. blakistoni, is a very common summer visitor to the mountains near 
Lake Baikal, but is a resident in China, retiring to the mountains to 
breed. In Mongolia it is said to be a summer visitor in some parts, and 
to remain during the winter in others. It also winters in Scinde and the 
* Linneus founded this species upon-“ the bird called Spipoletta at Florence ” of Ray 
and Willughby. It is spelt “spinoletta” both in the tenth and twelfth editions; and as 
the name has been so universally employed it does not seem worth while to alter it. 
