THE WATER PIPIT. 139 



This bird seems to have been first made 

 known to English naturalists by Mr. Thomas 

 Webster, of Manchester, who, in a communica- 

 tion to the " Zoologist" (p. 1023), stated that he 

 had seen three birds at Fleetwood in October, 

 1843, which he had not the slightest hesitation 

 in identifying with a Pipit described by M. Deby 

 as Anthus aquaticus, Bechstein, and which to all 

 appearance were totally distinct from the com- 

 mon Rock Pipit of our coast. In January, 1860, 

 the Rev. M. A. Mathew, in a letter to Mr. 

 Gould, called attention to the fact of his having 

 procured a Pipit at Torquay, which was subse- 

 quently identified unhesitatingly with A. aqua- 

 ticus of Bechstein. Since that date, Mr. Gat- 

 combe, of Plymouth, has noticed several other 

 specimens in Devonshire, and a great many 

 have been procured in Sussex, chiefly in the 

 neighbourhood of Brighton. Thus the claim of 

 this bird to rank as a British species has come 

 to be pretty well established. M. Baily, in his 

 " Ornithologie de la Savoie," says that the Water 

 Pipit is common at all seasons of the year both 

 in Switzerland and Savoy. During winter it 



