136 



ROCK riPIT. 



below. Our dull-coloured race is found in the Channel Islands 

 and along the northern and western shores of France ; while it is 

 represented by the Scandinavian form to the eastward of our 

 islands and in the Baltic. There is as yet no evidence of the 

 occurrence of either in the Mediterranean. 



The nest, generally in a clump of sea-pink, a grassy bank, or a 

 crevice of the rocks on the sea-shore, is made of dry grasses and sea- 

 tang; the eggs, 4-5, are usually greenish-grey mottled with olive- 

 brown, but I have seen some reddish ones, like those of a Tree- 

 Pipit : measurements "8 by '6 in. Two broods are produced in the 

 season. The food consists of marine insects, flies, small molluscs 

 and crustaceans, for which the bird may be seen searching among 

 the heaps of sea-weed on the shore at low water. 



The adult is olive-brown with darker streaks above ; the under 

 parts dull ochreous-olive streaked with brown on the breast ; much 

 like the Water-Pipit in winter, but more olive, and the outer tail- 

 feathers with smoke-coloured outer webs, so that the under side of 

 the tail seems nearly uniform brown. The young are more striated. 

 Length 6'2 5 in. ; wing 3"5 in. 



Pycnonotid.^. — An example of the South-African Bulbul or 

 * Gold-vented Tlirush,' Pycnonotus capc/isis, was shot near Waterford, 

 Ireland, in January 1838, and skinned by Dr. R. Birkett. Consider- 

 ing the natural habitat of the bird, and the time of year, it is only 

 reasonable to suppose that it had escaped from confinement. 



