ANTHUS BRACHYURUS. 539 
composition and situation, at Sunday’s River, on the 12th of October, 
containing three eggs slightly incubated.” 
Adult female (in breeding plumage).—General colour above nearly 
uniform umber brown, but slightly paler and more ashy on the 
hinder neck ; least wing-coverts like the back, the remainder blackish, 
edged with dark sandy buff; the bastard-wing and primary-coverts 
blackish brown narrowly margined with ashy fulvous, as also are the 
primaries, the secondaries, however, having rather broader edges 
of sandy buff; tail-feathers dark brown narrowly edged with ashy 
fulyous, the two outer feathers smoky brown with an oblique mark of 
dark brown along the inner web, the tips of both feathers isabelline, 
as also the outer web of the external rectrix ; head nearly uniform like 
-the back ; lores and a distinct eyebrow as well as the feathers under 
the eye isabelline whitish, rather more sandy on the hinder part of 
the eyebrow ; ear-coverts pale sandy buff, browner along the upper 
margin; cheeks whitish with a dusky line along the upper margin and 
a plainer moustachial line of blackish ; throat whitish ; remainder of 
the under surface of the body pale sandy buff, inclining to isabelline 
on the centre of the breast, abdomen, thighs and under tail-coverts ; 
fore-neck and breast slightly washed with ashy fulvous with a few 
indistinct streaks of dusky brown; flanks rather more strongly 
washed with sandy buff; axillaries and under wing-coverts smoky 
brown washed with sandy buff; under surface of quills dusky, ashy 
isabelline along the inner web. Total length, 6:4 inches ; culmen, 
0°65 ; wing, 3°6; tail, 2°25; tarsus, 1-1. 
Fig. Levaill. Ois. d’Afr. iv. pl. 197. 
527. ANTHUS BRACHYURUS. Short-tailed Pipit. 
Anthus calthrope and A. brachywrus, Layard, B. 8. Afr. pp. 
121, 122. 
The diminutive size of this Pipit is its foremost claim to recog- 
nition among its South African relations. Total length, 4°6 inches ; 
wing, 2°5. It is not a common bird in museums, and is almost 
exclusively known as a Natal bird. Mr. Thomas Ayres writes from 
that colony :—‘“ This species is only plentiful during the summer 
months; it is quite a terrestrial bird, never, to my knowledge, 
alighting on any twig or stem of grass, but always on the ground. 
The birds generally rise from the grass close to one’s feet, and it is 
no easy matter to shoot them, as their flight is both strong and very 
