350 THE ROCK OR SHORE PIPIT. 



Genus Anthus — The Pipits 



were classed with the larks till separated by Bechstein and 

 Temminck. In the similarity of head, feet, bill, food, and 

 running, the pipits resemble the wagtails more than the larks, 

 hence are they linked together. Kunning, hopping, stalking, 

 or waddling are all distinctive features in our feathered friends, 

 and, like the form of bill or flight, could tell to which class 

 they belong. For instance, wagtails, pipits, and larks, like the 

 common hen, run after their food, while most small birds, like 

 the house-sparrow, hop ; others, such as the hoopoe and the 

 crows, stalk with a swaggering gait, like a pompous bailie ; 

 while ducks and geese, formed for swimming as well as walking 

 — having their legs far back, waddle • and those whose mission 

 is to dive and swim — such as the auks and divers, stand bolt 

 upright on their tails, and can merely shuffle their feet like a 

 man ill with the gout. There is the same difference in flight, 

 for, while the wagtails and pipits fly in undulating curves, 

 kingfishers and dippers fly straight as an arrow, kites soar, owls 

 float, kestrels hover, and starlings swim on the air. 



The Rock or Shore Pipit. 



(Alanda Petrosa.) Linn. (Antlius Aquaticus.) Bechst. 



" Every subject's duty is the King's, 

 But every subject's soul is his own, 

 For there are no wings can fly from God." 



— King Henry V. 



Like the yellow wagtail, this bird was confounded with 

 others by early authors. It was first figured by Lewin in his 

 work on l * British Birds," as the " Dusky Lark," at the 

 suggestion of Montague, who first discerned its distinctive 

 features — strange that such a common bird, running so plenti- 

 fully about our rocks and shores, should have been so long in 

 being defined ; it was next called Alauda Obscura in the 

 "Index Ornithologicus ;" then in the "Ornithological 

 Dictionary" it appeared as the " Rock Lark," Alauda Petrosa. 



