ANTHDS SPIPOLETTA 161 



ANTHUS SPIPOLETTA (Linnsus). 



WATEE-PIPIT. 



Alauda spinoletta, Linn. Sijst. Nat. i, p. 288 (1766). 



Anthus spipoletta, Jaub. ct Lupomm. liicli. Oin. p. 285 (1859) ; 



Sharpc, Cat. Birds Ilrlt. Mils, x, p. 592; Koen'aj, J. f. 0. 1892, p. 389 ; 



£■)•/««(/(;/,/./. 0. 1899, p. 320. 

 Anthus spinoletta, Loche, Expl. Sci. AUj. Ois. ii, p. 14 (1867). 



Description.— Adult male, spring, from Italy. 



Upper parts light brownish-grey, the feathers with rather darker centres ; 

 superciliai'ies broad and whitish ; quills brown, margined with whitish ; 

 tail-feathers brown, the outer pair with their outer webs and the terminal 

 portion of inner webs white, the next adjoining pair slightly tipped with 

 white ; chin and throat whitish, becoming oale ferruginous on the breast, 

 and white on the abdomen and under tail-coverts. 



Iris, bill and feet dark brown. 



Total length 6 inches, wing 3'60, culmen -60, tarsus -80. 



Observations. — In autumn plumage the upper parts are greenish-brown, 

 and the underparts white, or whitish, with the sides of the throat and breast 

 heavily streaked with brown. 



The Water-Pipit is not uncommon in Tunisia in winter, being 

 met with chiefly on the east coast, where Mr. Aplin observed it at 

 Sfax, and Baron v. Erlanger frequently met vs^ith it near Gabes and 

 Skirra. The species can no doubt only be looked upon as a winter 

 migrant in the Regency, although Loche says that examples of it 

 have been captured in Algeria in summer. Should any individuals of 

 the species really breed in North-west Africa, they would no doubt 

 resort to the higher valleys of the Atlas, where there is no lack of 

 suitable localities for nidification. Canon Tristram seems to have 

 met with the Water-Pipit in winter as far south as Laghouat in the 

 Algerian Sahara. The summer quarters of the species, however, are 

 the high mountain valleys and pastures, such as those of the Swiss 

 and Italian Alps, where these birds may be found in large numbers 

 during the warmer months. In autumn they descend to the plains, 

 and may there be found frequenting the mud-flats and marshy ground 

 at the mouths of the streams running into the Alpine lakes. 



In its habits the Water-Pipit is said to resemble the Meadow- 

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