MOTACILLIN^. 243 



Bill dusky, yellowish at base beneath ; irides dark-brown ; legs 

 pale-brown. 



This Pipit is very similar to the last, and a detailed description 

 is therefore unnecessary. The chief points of difference are : the 

 tone of color less deep, less distinctly striated on the body ; it 

 is also more tinged with fulvescent on the throat, breast, and 

 under parts generally ; and the hind-claw is slightly more curved. 



The European Tree Pipit is generally distributed throughout 

 the Presidency during the cold weather, 



Anthus spinoletta, Lin. 



605fer. Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p, 491 ; 

 Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 170. 



THE WATER PIPIT. 



Length, 6'37 to 7'25 ; expanse, 9'5 to 1T25 ; wing, 315 to 3'6 ; 

 tail, 275 ; bill at front, 0'45 to 0'53. 



Bill dark horny-brown ; irides brown ; legs and feet brown 

 or dark -brown. 



In the winter plumage the upper surface is a sort of olive- 

 brown, with more or less of a faintly rufous tinge ; the rump 

 unstriated ; the head and back with dark hair-brown centres to 

 the feathers ; there is a well marked dull white stripe from the 

 nostril over the eye ; the coverts and the quills are mostly hair- 

 brown, the former broadly margined with brownish or olivaceous- 

 white, purer just at the tips of the coverts, and the latter narrow- 

 ly margined ; the first few primaries with greyish- white, the rest 

 with a sort of greenish or olivaceous-white ; the tippings of the 

 coverts form two tolerably well marked wing-bars ; the ter- 

 tiaries, which are somewhat paler than the rest of the quills, 

 are broadly margined with brownish-white ; the central tail- 

 feathers, which are the shortest, are a comparatively pale-brown, 

 margined all round with brownish- white ; the next pair on either 

 side are very dark-brown, very narrowly margined with pale 

 olivaceous, and the fourth with a tiny whitish spot at the extreme 

 tip ; the exterior tail-feathers of all have the whole outer webs 

 white, slightly brownish towards the tip, the whole inner web 

 white for nearly half an inch from the tip, beyond which for 

 another three-quarters of an inch the white occupies (next the 

 shaft) a gradually diminishing portion of the inner web, the rest 

 of the feather being brown ; the lower surface is a dull white, 

 in many specimens with a faint vinaceous tinge, in parts with a 

 row of small brown spots down the sides of the neck, with simi- 

 lar spots on the breast, and longer strise along the sides and 

 flanks. 



In the summer plumage the whole upper surface becomes greatly 

 overlaid with an earthy or greyish-brown shade, the striations 

 of the back and head almost disappear, though the edges of the 

 feathers are still somewhat paler than the centres, and the whole 



