THE PIPITS. IT5 



length, 6-6 inches; oilmen, 0-55 ; wing, 3-55 ; tail, 2-75 ; tar- 

 sus, 0-95. 



Winter Plumage. Like the summer plumage, but without the 

 reddish colour on the under surface, which is whitish with a 

 brown moustachial line on each side of the throat ; the fore- 

 neck, chest, and breast spotted with brown, less distinct on the 

 sides of the body and flanks ; light pattern on outer tail-feather 

 white, the penultimate feather with a conspicuous white tip. 



NOTE. The birds which visit England are always likely to be in win- 

 ter plumage or to be immature birds. From the young of the Tawny- 

 Pipit they can be told by the streaks on the flanks, which are uniform in the 

 latter bird. From the Meadow-Pipit they can be distinguished by having 

 the end of the penultimate feathers brown along the outer web ; in the 

 Meadow-Pipit this part of the feather is white. From the Rock-Pipit, 

 with which the Water-Pipit is most easily confounded, it can be recognised 

 by having the light part of the outer tail-feather w&ite, instead of smoky- 

 brown, as it is in A. obscurus. 



Range in Great Britain. An accidental visitor in autumn and 

 spring, four specimens having been recorded, all from the 

 vicinity of Brighton. One was killed there in 1864, another 

 near Worthing in the same year, a third near Shoreham in 

 October, 1868, and a fourth near Lancing in March, 1877. 



Range ontside the British Islands. An inhabitant of the moun- 

 tain regions of Central and Southern Europe, throughout Cen- 

 tral Asia to the Altai Mountains, occurring also in the high 

 ranges of Persia and Baluchistan. A smaller race, named 

 Anthus blakistoni, is found in Eastern Siberia and China. 



Habits. From its mountain-loving propensities, Mr. Seebohm 

 prefers to call this species the " Alpine " Pipit, as it frequents 

 only the higher mountain slopes above the forest growth during 

 the breeding season, visiting the lowlands in the winter. He 

 has given a good account of the nesting of the species in the 

 Engadine, where he found it on the higher mountains, living 

 in the same districts as the Marmot, " where the gentle ist of 

 the Pipit contrasts with the loud mee-ik of the latter, these 

 being almost the only signs of animal life in these regions." 

 The ways of the species are very similar to those of the 

 Meadow-Pipit, its food consisting of insects, small worms and 

 land-shells, but it is said to eat seeds in winter, when insect 

 life fails. Like other Pipits, it runs actively along the ground, 



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