MOTACILLID^ ANTHUS 249 



Transvaal in winter, and probably in summer as well, as it is 

 recorded from Eustenburg, by Lucas, both in November and 

 April. This species is, in Natal, " only plentiful during the 

 summer months " according to Ay res. 



Habits. Mr. Ayres writes : "It is quite a terrestrial bird, 

 never, to my knowledge, alighting on any twig or stem of grass, 

 but .alwf^s on the ground. The birds generally rise from the 

 grass clojse to one's feet, and it is no easy matter to shoot them, 

 as their ^ight is ^both strong and very eccentric. They build their 

 nests (I am toleraJfol^ -sure) : similarly to the Larks on the ground, 

 with a few loose dry leaves of grass ; they are generally either 

 single or in paii^." 



These Pipits 7 feed on small insets and grass seeds ; their 

 ordinary note is a s,h$ill " chirrup." In spring the male frequently 

 utters a short but by no means unpleasant song from an ant-hill 

 or some slight elevation. In the Transvaal, according to Lucas, 

 they sometimes perch on trees ; this habit I have not myself 

 noticed in Natal. 



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143. Anthus nicholsoni. Nicholson's Pipit. 



Anthus nicholsoni, Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. p. 536 (1884) ; id. 



Cat. B. M. x, p. 553 (1885) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 12 (1896). 

 Anthus campestris (nee Vieiu.) Gurney in Andersson's B. Damara 



Land, p. 114 (1872) ; Bocage, Om. Angola, p. 292 (1881). 



Description. Adult male in winter. Above, brown with narrow 

 streaks of black, the rump feathers and upper tail-coverts with 

 rufous edges ; tail-feathers dusky brown, the outer web and 

 terminal third of the inner web of the outer feather dull white ; 

 the outer edge and tip of the next feather whitish; lesser wing- 

 coverts like the back ; rest of wing-coverts and quills blackish 

 edged with brown and rufous, the inner margin of the outer 

 primary white ; crown brown mottled with black ; lores, eyebrow 

 and eyelids yellowish ; ear-coverts rufous with white shafts ; cheeks 

 buff; moustache black; throat white; sides of neck and under 

 surface of body buff, of a deeper shade on the sides, thigns and 

 under tail-coverts, the lower throat spotted, the sides streaked, with 

 dusky brown ; axillaries and under wing-coverts pale buff. 



Iris dark hazel ; bill brown ; feet pale brown. 



Length 7-65; wing 3'90 ; tail 3-15; tarsus 1-05; culmen 0'70. 



