PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 237 



dull white. After the autumn moult the upper parts have a decided green hue, 

 while the under parts are of yellowish olive. Young birds are much darker than 

 the adults, the striations of the feathers being much broader, [w. p. p.] 



2. Distribution. In all probability this bird and the Alpine- or water-pipit, 

 which visits our coasts in winter, are only geographical races of the same species. 

 The British rock-pipit is confined to the coasts of the British Isles, the Channel 

 Isles, and North-west France, while other local races inhabit the Faeroes and the 

 Scandinavian coasts, and the latter form visits our coasts on migration. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. Resident on all the rocky and broken British coasts. On 

 the flat east coast of Great Britain, however, it is also a regular migrant, nearly all 

 these birds presumably coming from more northerly districts within our area, and 

 staying from September to April. September and October are the months of the 

 chief southward movements, and March and April of the less pronounced return 

 passage (cf. Nelson, B. of Yorks., 1907, p. 135; W. Eagle Clarke, Ibis, 1904, 

 p. 137 ; and Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 1909, p. 108). Examples of the Scandinavian 

 race, A. spinoletta littoralis, to which reference has been made above, are not 

 infrequently obtained among these migrants, and are probably very often 

 overlooked. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Nesting place : generally cunningly concealed in some 

 crevice of rocky cliff, sometimes low down, and at other times over one thousand 

 .feet above the sea. Exceptionally it has been found in rabbit-holes, in disused 

 boats, or beds of sea campion, etc. Like the other pipits' nests, it is composed 

 of dry grasses and bents, usually with some hair in the lining, and is constructed 

 by both sexes. (PL x.) Eggs 4 or 5, rarely 6, varying from the grey or wagtail 

 type to the brown type, spotted with innumerable fine markings of olive or reddish 

 brown. Red varieties are also occasionally met with, and some eggs are hand- 

 somely marked with caps or zones of dark brown. (PL B.) Average size of 100 

 British eggs, *83 x -62 in. [21-29 x 15'91 mm.]. Laying begins in April, but most 

 eggs are found at the end of April and the first half of May. Whether the cock 

 shares in incubation is uncertain. The period is probably the same as that of the 

 other pipits, about a fortnight. Two broods are reared in the year. [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. This species subsists on such beetles and other insects as may be 

 found about the seashore, and on small molluscs and crustaceans, as well as to a 

 slight extent on vegetable food. The young are fed by both parents, chiefly, no 

 doubt, on insects, but evidence is wanting. [A. L. T.] 



6. Song Period. Not recorded. 



