THE WATER-PIPIT. 185 



olive-brown ; axillaries whiter ; tail : outer pair with outer web 

 whitish and wedge on inner web white, next pair with a small 

 white mark at tip, and next pair sometimes with very small 

 white mark ; wings as A. s. petrosus but fringes warm brown and 

 tips of coverts very pale brown (when worn whitish). This plumage 

 is acquired by complete moult in Aug.-Sept. Summer. The body- 

 plumage, usually some innermost secondaries, and middle tail- 

 feathers, and often some wing-coverts are moulted in March-April. 

 Head and back of neck become grey tinged brown ; rest of upper- 

 parts greyish-brown ; eye-stripe white (sometimes tinged pink) 

 broader and more distinct than in winter ; ear-coverts greyish- 

 brown ; belly and under tail-coverts whitish ; rest of under-parts 

 pale huffish-pink, usually unstreaked except for a few fine streaks on 

 flanks and an occasional winter streaked feather remaining on breast 

 (such feathers seem more frequent in females, which do not usually 

 become so pink as males). 



Nestling. (Not examined.) 



Juvenile. Like that of A. s. petrosus but upper-parts more 

 warm brown and without greenish tinge, much like winter adult but 

 with dark centres of feathers of crown and mantle more marked ; 

 under-parts whiter than in A. s. petrosus, streaks narrower and 

 more blackish-brown than in adult winter ; tail- and wing-feathers 

 as adult. 



First winter. Like adults. The juvenile body-plumage, lesser 

 wing-coverts and usually median and some inner greater wing- 

 coverts and some innermost secondaries are moulted in Aug. First 

 summer. Like adult and moult the same. 



Measurements and structure. <$ wing 87-93 mm., tail 65-70 ; 

 tarsus 24-25, bill from skull 14-16 (12 measured). $ wing, 82-89. 

 tStructu r ^ as in A. s. petrosus. 



Soft parts. Bill brown-black with base of lower mandible 

 yellowish-flesh (winter) all brown-black (summer) ; legs and feet 

 dark flesh-brown ; iris black-brown. 



CHARACTERS AND ALLIED FORMS. A. s. petrosus, littoralis, and 

 kleinschmidti have pale portions of outer tail-feathers and also 

 axillaries smoke-coloured instead of white, besides other differences ; 

 A. s. rubescens has buff under-parts ; A. s. coutellii (Persia, Palestine, 

 Egypt) in winter has greyer crown and paler edgings and darker 

 centres to feathers of mantle and more pinkish-buff, not such 

 white under-parts, in summer under-parts paler pink ; A. s. blakistoni 

 (central Asia) is like coutellii but in winter paler brown on upper-parts 

 and still paler in summer ; A. s. japonicus (Kamtschatka, east 

 Siberia) in winter is darker brown than any other form and has 

 more blackish and distinct streaks on under-parts, in summer 

 under-parts are buff, not pink, with blackish streaks. All Water- 

 and Rock-Pipits occurring in British Isles have darker legs and 

 feet than other European Pipits. 



