MOTACILLID^ ANTHUS 247 



and a female at Colesberg. These are apparently the only examples 

 recorded. 



Habits. The male described attracted my attention by its song, 

 uttered whilst hovering in the air. Its stomach contained a spider, 

 three small grasshoppers and a few grass- seeds. 



141. Anthus trivialis. ^Tree Pipit. 



Alauda trivialis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 288 (1766). 



Alauda arborea, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 793 (1788). 



Anthus arboreus, Bechst. Naiurg. Deutschl. iii, p. 706 (1806) ; Gray, 



Gen. B. i, p. 206 (1848). 

 Anthus trivialis, Fleming, Brit. An. p. 75 (1828) ; Dresser, B. Europe, 



iii, p. 309, pi. 132, fig. 2 (1875) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 



852 (1884) ; id. Cat. B. M. x, p. 543 (1885) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 12 



(1896). 



Description. Adult male in summer. Above, sandy brown 

 streaked with dark brown ; wing-coverts and secondaries dark 

 brown edged with whitish, the middle and greater coverts tipped 

 with whitish ; primaries dusky brown with paler edges, the outer 

 edged with white ; outer tail-feather white, the outer web tipped, 

 the inner marked with brown ; rest of tail-feathers brown, the 

 centre pair edged with whitish-brown, the penultimate with a 

 white spot at the end of the inner web; lores, eyebrow, eyelids, 

 ear-coverts and cheeks buff; malar line blackish ; chin white ; rest 

 of lower surface buff, the abdomen lighter, the lower throat, breast 

 and flanks streaked with dark brown ; axillaries and under wing- 

 coverts buff mottled with dusky near the edge of wing. 



Iris dark brown ; upper mandible dark brown, the lower paler ; 

 legs and feet pale flesh-colour. 



Length 6-00 ; wing 3'40 ; tail 2-60 ; tarsus 0-90 ; culmen 0-50. 



Adult female. Slightly smaller and less distinctly spotted on 

 the breast. 



Young. The breast-streaks are smaller but more numerous. 



Adults in winter. Deeper buff below, the light margins on the 

 wing-coverts and quills broader than in summer. 



Distribution. Breeds in Northern and Central Europe and in 

 Western Siberia, migrates in autumn to India and Africa, a few 

 individuals ranging as far south as the Transvaal, where it was 

 first obtained by Wahlberg on the Limpopo Eiver. 



Habits. In its northern migration this species reaches its 



