252 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



legs, feet, and claws blackish brown ; irides dark brown. The female 

 resembles the male in the colour of her plumage. In autumn the general 

 colour of the upper parts is a richer brown, and lacks the slate-grey 

 on the head and nape, which are almost uniform with the back ; the 

 dark centres are somewhat more pronounced ; the general colour of 

 the underparts is white, tinged with buff, shading into brown on the 

 flanks, and marked on the sides of the neck and across the breast with 

 large dull streaks of brown. Birds of the year resemble adults in this 

 plumage, but are more streaked on the underparts. In autumn plumage 

 the Alpine Pipit very closely resembles the Rock-Pipit, but may easily 

 be distinguished by the colour of the outer tail-feathers ; in the present 

 species they are marked with white, whilst in the Rock-Pipit they are 

 marked with smoke-brown. 



