PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 235 



3. Migration. An irregular and uncommon visitor to England, occurring 

 chiefly in autumn on the south-eastern coasts, especially in Sussex. There 

 are several records for neighbouring counties (cf. Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 

 1909, p. 105, etc.), and a number for Norfolk (cf. Saunders, Manual of British 

 Birds, 1899, p. 139; and British Birds, vol. i. p. 264). There are also 

 one or two records each for Northumberland, Cumberland, Lancashire, Shrop- 

 shire, Warwickshire, the Scilly Isles, and the Kentish Knock Light Vessel, (cf. 

 Saunders, loc. cit.) ; and British Birds, vol. i. p. 113). Until several were detected 

 on Fair Isle (Shetlands) during the autumn of 1908 (cf. W. Eagle Clarke, Annals 

 Scot. Nat. Hist., 1909, p. 72), the only Scottish record was for near Dunkeld, 

 Perthshire, 2nd Aug. 1880 (cf. Saunders, loc. cit.), and the only Irish one is for 

 near Dublin, 21st Nov. 1907 (cf. Zoologist, 1908, p. 32). The bird migrates singly or 

 in small parties. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Does not breed in the British Isles. 



5. Food. Worms, and grasshoppers and other insects. 



ALPINE- or W AT ER- PIPIT [A nthus spinoletta spinoletta (Linnaeus) 

 [Anthus spipoletta (L.)]. French, pipi spioncelle; German, Wasser-pieper ; 

 Italian, spioncello]. 



i. Description. Resembles the rock-pipit, from which it may be dis- 

 tinguished by the white colour of the outer vane of the outermost tail feather, 

 and the white tips of the penultimate pair. (PL 30.) The sexes are indistinguish- 

 able. Length 6| in. [165 mm.]. The crown, ear-coverts, and neck are ash-grey, 

 shading into brown on the back : there is a creamy-white superciliary streak, and 

 a more or less well-marked crescentic band of creamy-white running from the base 

 of the beak backwards behind and beneath the ear-coverts. The uniformity in 

 the coloration of the back is relieved by faint striations of a darker hue. Wings 

 dark brown, with pale margins to the inner secondaries and coverts. The outer 

 pair of tail feathers are white with a smoky-brown outer vane ; the second and 

 third pairs brown, tipped white ; the rest brown. Chin white ; throat and breast 

 of a warm vinaceous buff ; abdomen paler. The sides of the throat, breast, and 

 flanks striated with greyish brown. After the autumn moult the upper parts are 

 browner, and the under surface loses the rosy hue, while the striations become 

 more marked. Young birds resemble the adults in winter, but are more heavily 

 striated. They may be distinguished from young meadow-pipits on the one 



