134 WATER-PIPIT. 



the Alps and the mountain ranges of Central Europe, the Pyrenees, 

 and some of the higher regions in the Spanish Peninsula, even in 

 the extreme south. On migration it occurs in Hehgoland, Holland, 

 Belgium, France, and Europe generally, down to the Mediterranean 

 and Black Seas. In Russia it breeds in the Ural Mountains up to 

 64° N. lat., and in the Caucasus ; as it does in the high ranges of 

 Asia Minor, Persia, Beluchistan, Turkestan, and in the Altai. In 

 winter it visits the North of Africa, Egypt, Palestine, and the lower 

 districts of Asia to Western India ; being replaced to the eastward 

 by a smaller form, A. blakis/oni, which inhabits Eastern Siberia, 

 Mongolia and China. In Japan the representative is a subspecies, 

 A.japoiiicus, doubtfully distinct from A. pennsylvaniais — also known 

 as A. ludovicianus — which is found throughout North America and 

 in Greenland ; the latter has also been identified in Heligoland, 

 and is said, but on insufficient evidence, to have occurred in Great 

 Britain. 



The Water-Pipit returns to its breeding-quarters as soon as the 

 elevated regions are sufficiently free from snow ; and early in May I 

 observed large numbers in the Val de Lys above Luchon. The nest, 

 loosely composed of dry grass, bents and stems, lined with a few hairs 

 and feathers, is placed on the ground among stones, or under the 

 shelter of a low bush ; the eggs, usually 5 in number, are greyish- 

 white mottled with brownish-olive : average measurements "8 by '6 in. 

 In some localities two broods are reared in the season. The song 

 of the male is an often-repeated ///, ///, tit, uttered in the air or from 

 the top of some tree. The food consists of insects, minute snails, 

 and small seeds. 



The adult male in breeding-plumage has a white stripe over the 

 eye and the greyish-brown ear-coverts ; upper parts greyish-brown, 

 turning to brown on the rump ; wings dark brown with pale edges to 

 the coverts and secondaries ; the exterior pair of tail-feathers white 

 on the outer portion, the second and third pairs brown tipped with 

 white, the remaining feathers brown ; chin white ; throat and breast 

 warm vinaceous-buff ; belly paler, and flanks rather browner, with a 

 few dark streaks ; bill, legs and feet brown. Length 6"25 in. ; wing 

 3*6 in. The sexes are alike in plumage. In autumn the vinous 

 tint is lost, and the sides of the neck and breast are spotted with 

 dark brown. The young bird is still more spotted, and the outer 

 webs of the exterior pair of tail-feathers are pale brown. 



