188 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



75. Anthus spinoletta petrosus (Mont.) * THE ROCK-PIPIT. 



ALATJDA PETKOSA Montagu, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, iv, p. 41 (1798 



Wales). 



Alauda dbscura Non A. obscitra Gmelin 1789 Latham, Index Orn., 



n, p. 494 (1790 England). 



Anthus obscurus (Latham), Yarrell, i, p. 586 ; Saunders, p, 143. 



Anthus spinoletta obscurns (Lath.), Hand-List B.B., p. 36 (1912). 



DESCRIPTION. Adult, male and female. Winter. All upper-parts 

 dark olive-brown, rump uniform but feathers of rest of upper- 

 parts with darker and browner centres ; orbital ring and narrow, 

 somewhat indistinct, line from nostrils over and behind eye, 

 creamy-white ; lores and under eye blackish, finely speckled 

 creamy-white ; ear-coverts olive-brown ; chin, centre of throat 

 and belly olive-buff or olive-white ; under tail-coverts same but 

 longer ones streaked olive-brown ; rest of under-parts thickly 

 streaked dark olive-brown (the dark parts of the feathers being 

 blended into the pale parts the streaks are not harshly contrasted) ; 

 axillaries smoke-brown fringed white or yellowish- white ; tail 

 brown-black fringed olivaceous on outer webs, central pair browner, 

 outer pair pale smoke-brown on outer web and with a smoky- 

 white wedge-shaped mark on distal half of inner web, next 

 (penultimate) pair with a smoky- white mark at tip ; wing- feathers 

 brown-black narrowly edged olivaceous on outer and more broadly 

 smoky-white on inner webs, inner secondaries broadly edged 

 olive-brown ; primary- coverts like primaries ; rest of wing-coverts 

 like inner secondaries but with rather paler tips. This plumage 

 is acquired by complete moult in Aug. -Oct. In mid- winter when 

 somewhat worn upper-parts become browner (less olive) and 

 imder-parts paler with the streaks browner and more distinct. 

 Summer. The body-plumage is moulted in Feb.-April, occasionally 

 lesser and median wing-coverts, or some innermost secondaries 

 and rarely w T hole tail, but not usually any tail-feathers and not rest 

 of wing-feathers, primary-coverts or greater wing-coverts. New 

 feathers like winter but very slightly less olive on upper-parts and 

 usually slightly less olive-buff and more whitish on under-parts. 

 and the streaks rather browner and less olive. When worn, dark 

 centres of feathers of upper -parts become more distinct and fringes 

 are greyer, under-parts paler. N.B. Rarely there is a slight 

 pinkish-buff tinge on throat and such specimens are very difficult 

 to distinguish from some specimens of A. s. littoralis, but crown 

 of latter is usually slightly greyer. 



Nestling. Down, brown-grej', long and fairly plentiful ; dis- 

 tribution, inner and outer supra-orbital, occipital, spinal, humeral. 

 ulnar, femoral, crural and ventral (short on last). Mouth, inside 

 reddish-flesh, no spots, externally gape-flanges very pale yellow. 



Juvenile (Plate 6). Like adult but upper- parts slightly browner 



* We are obliged to Mr. T. Iredale for pointing out the prior use of 

 A. obseura in 1789. ED. 



