THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 343 



harsh, like that of the Tree Pipit ; if the bird is suddenly surprised, 

 it often in flying away utters its call two or three times in succes- 

 cession. It is by no means a shy bird, and never flies very far ; if 

 repeatedly disturbed while busy at the foot of the cliff, it flits from 

 one piece of rock to another, never more than fifteen or twenty 

 paces at a time, finally perching on a prominence half way up the 

 face of the cliff, where it will quietly wait until one has passed along 

 underneath it, after which it will resume its occupation on the shore. 



Whether one meets it on a fine spring morning, while 

 cautiously pursuing the Woodcock, or on dull cold winter after- 

 noons, amid blinding snow, whilst one is watching for northern 

 Ducks, Geese, and Swans, the bird always displays the same 

 demeanour, showing no signs either of comfort or distress ; but, 

 solitary, serious and active, and without displaying any particular 

 shyness in regard to man, it performs the various functions of its 

 daily existence. 



The winter plumage of this Pipit is very dull and inconspicuous; 

 all the upper parts are dull olivaceous green (olivenschwdrzlich), 

 the lower parts dull olivaceous sulphur yellow ; the neck, upper 

 breast, and sides being strongly clouded with the colour of the 

 back. In the summer plumage, which the bird acquires by altera- 

 tion of colours (as distinct from moulting), the head, back of the 

 neck as far as the back, and down to the sides of the upper 

 breast, are greenish grey, not olivaceous grey, the blackish feathers 

 of the back having broad obscure edges of the same colour ; the 

 throat, sides of the neck and upper breast as far down as the breast, 

 are of a dull reddish colour, as though composed of a mixture of 

 rust-colour and; pink ; the feathers of the sides have broad obscure 

 streaks of the colour of the back. In females and younger males 

 the head is neither of so pure a grey, nor does the reddish colour 

 so much incline to pink as in the old males, which are sometimes 

 of an almost vinous red. 



Neither in the winter nor summer plumage of this species is 

 there anywhere any display of pure white. There is a very obscure 

 dull greyish brown wedge-shaped patch on the outermost pair of 

 tail-feathers, and a small mark of similar colour on the tip of the 

 next pair ; in the Water Pipit these markings are, as is well known, 

 pure white, and the upper parts are more decided greyish brown, 

 with a hardly perceptible greenish hue in the winter plumage. 



The Rock Pipit, which might also appropriately be called Sea 

 Pipit, breeds on all the rocky shores of northern Europe, including 

 northern France, Great Britain, with the Hebrides, Shetland and 

 Orkney Islands, on the Faroes, and on the coasts and islands of the 

 Scandinavian Peninsula. 



