ANTHUS GOULD I. 309 



of September. The nest is cup-shaped, constructed of dry 

 grass lined with finer grass and a few hairs, and is usually 

 concealed in a slight hollow overhung by grass. The eggs, 

 almost invariably three in number, are dull white or cream 

 colour, thickly marked with spots and mottlings of grey, 

 brown and reddish-purple. They measure about 0"85 X - 60." 

 "While I was at Pine Town, in March, I met with these Pipits 

 in large numbers scattered over a considerable tract of open 

 country. From the fine series of specimens collected there 

 by my friend, Mr. T. L. Ayres, it appears to be a resident and 

 to have no marked seasonal change in its plumage. 



Levaillant, who was the first to recognise these Pipits in 

 South Africa, called it by the somewhat inappropriate name 

 of "Alouette a dos roux." His illustration of the species is 

 very bad, and he roughly describes, first a specimen of 

 apparently the more rufous form, my A. vaalensis, and then 

 one of the duller Cape Colony birds, but certainly makes the 

 latter the type by remarking : " This is the ' Inkelde-liwerk ' 

 of the colonist." 



In Mashonaland, according to Mr. T. Ayres's notes, they 

 were " in pairs, both in August and October, but not common. 

 They frequent the lower parts of the rocky hills, and on being 

 disturbed, at once fly on to the nearest tree." Those he saw 

 were always in well-wooded parts. In the same country 

 Mr. Guy Marshall records them as " everywhere abundant 

 in the open veldt, but also to be found frequenting trees in 

 open bush." In Nyasaland specimens have been found as 

 far north as the Tanjanyika plateau. 



Anthus gouldi, Gould's Plain-backed Pipit, ranges south- 

 ward from the Gambia and North Abyssinia into Angola. 



Specimens have been procured from the Gambia by Sir A. 

 Moloney, from Casamanse by Verreaux, from Sierra Leone 

 by Sabine, and from the Sulymah river by Demery. Mr. 



