ALAUDIN^E. ANTHUS. 169 



thors ; so that, on the whole, I think it ought to be called the 

 Dusky Pipit, Anthus obscurus. 



Rock Pipit. Rock Lark. Sea Lark. Dusky Lark. 



Alauda obscura, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. 801. Alauda obscura, 

 Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 494. Alauda petrosa, Mont. Linn. 

 Trans. & Ornith. Diet. Anthus obscurus, Temm. Man. 

 d'Ornith. iv. 628. Anthus aquaticus, Shore Pipit, MacGilli- 

 vray, Brit. Birds, ii. 194. 



101. ANTHUS SPINOLETTA. RED-BREASTED PIPIT. 



Upper parts greyish-brown, very slightly tinged with oliva- 

 ceous, the central part of each feather of a darker tint ; a yel- 

 lowish-white band from the bill over the eye ; outer tail-fea- 

 ther with an oblique greyish-white band, including the greater 

 part of the outer and the extremity of the inner web, the next 

 feather with the tip greyish-white ; lower parts yellowish-grey, 

 the breast and lower part of the neck tinged with red ; the 

 sides and lower part of the neck, the fore part of the breast, 

 and the sides of the body, marked with oblong greyish-brown 

 spots ; hind claw moderately arched, and rather longer than 

 the first joint ; bill and feet more slender than in Anthus ob- 

 scurus. 



This species being now for the first time introduced into 

 our Fauna, it will not be judged inexpedient to present an ex- 

 tended description of it. Finding in one of my note-books a 

 very particular account of two Pipits, obtained in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Edinburgh, and examined by me on the 2d June 

 1824, when they were recent, and in the possession of the late 

 Mr John Wilson, and which I found to be different from any 

 with which I was then acquainted ; and observing that M. Tem- 

 minck, in the fourth volume of his manual, has described an 

 Anthus which he had previously confounded with A. obscurus, 

 under the common name of A. aquaticus ; I was induced to ex- 

 amine all the Pipits I could find, and among others, those in the 

 British Collection in the Museum of the University of Edin- 

 burgh, to which the great liberality of Professor Jameson has 

 allowed me free access. Among these I find two specimens, 

 agreeing with the two of my note-book, and also with A. aqua- 

 ticus of M. Temminck, and with a specimen, marked " Saskat- 

 chewan, Dr Richardson," of the North American bird figured 

 and described in the Fauna Boreali- Americana under that 

 name. These two specimens, and Dr Richardson's, are spe- 

 cifically identical with Alauda rufa of Wilson, and Anthus 

 ludovicianus of Lichtenstein, of which I have examined many 



