MEADOW-PIPIT. 579 



positively as to its appearance in Central or Northern Asia, 

 while in China and Japan it seems not to occur at all, the 

 Anthus pratensis japonicus of Temminck and Schlegel being 

 the perfectly distinct species, A. cervinus (Pallas)*. 



The bill, which is more slender than that of the Tree-Pipit, 

 is dark brown above, inclining to light yellow-brown at the 

 base of the lower mandible : irides hazel : the top of the head, 

 neck, back and upper tail-coverts, dark brown, each feather 

 edged with light greyish-brown inclining to olive ; both sets 

 of wing-coverts edged with pale wood-brown ; quill-feathers 

 brownish-black, the primaries and secondaries with a very 

 narrow light border of an olive-green, the tertials with a broad 

 outer edge of the same ; the tail-feathers dark brown, the outer 

 pair with all the outer web and more than half the distal 

 part of the inner web, white ; the second pair with a small 

 triangular patch of white at the end of the inner web ; the 

 next three pairs with a very narrow light outer margin, and 

 the middle pair, which shew the trace of indistinct bars of a 

 darker shade, more broadly edged with light olive-brown ; 

 the chin and throat dull white ; ear-coverts mottled with 

 two shades of greyish-brown ; from the inferior angle of 



* This has been included as a British bird by Mr. Harting and Mr. Gould 

 but on evidence which the Editor deems as yet insufficient. A skin of the 

 species in Mr. Bond's possession, bought at the sale of the late Mr. Troughton's 

 collection, bears a ticket indicating that it was obtained in Unst, 4th May, 1854, 

 as it possibly may have been, but there is nothing to shew by whom it was pro- 

 cured or that it is not a foreign example to which the label has been tied. A 

 second specimen, mentioned by the above-named writers as obtained in the Isle 

 of Wight, which is also in Mr. Bond's possession, is not of this species, as that 

 gentleman informed Mr. Dresser. Still the Red -throated Pipit is a bird whose 

 migratory habits and wide north-eastern range make it very likely to occur in 

 this country, and probably its recognition as an occasional visitor to the British 

 Islands is only a matter of time and observation. It has been most perversely 

 accounted a variety, or at most a local race, of A. pratensis by many authors, 

 who have never had an opportunity of studying its habits or have overlooked 

 the many peculiarities of each speciea though these have been fully described 

 by some observers. The account of A. cervinus given by Dr. Bree and Mr. 

 Dresser in their respective works should remove all hesitation in future as to its 

 specific distinctness, and the delicate apricot -colouring of the throat of the adult, 

 more or less perceptible at all times of the year, should ensure its recognition 

 when met with. In other respects it has much of the appearance of the Meadow- 

 Pipit, 



