278 BRITISH BIRDS. 



face and the pale upper-parts being very conspicuous. I was, 

 however, unable to procure a specimen ; and, although I wrote 

 to Mr. H. F. Witherby, describing my experience, I did not 

 venture to place my observations on record until receiving 

 this undoubted example of P. horealis from Mr. Paddock. It is 

 difficult to account for the appearance of this North-west 

 European Titmouse in Great Britain, for, so far as is at present 

 known, it is not a migratory species. It must now, however, 

 be added to the list of our accidental visitors. 



W. R. GIL VIE- Grant. 



THE FIRST BRITISH EXAMPLE OF THE 

 RED-THROATED PIPIT. 



The first recorded " British " example of the Red- throated 

 Pipit {Anthus cervinus) is said to have been obtained near 

 Brighton on March 13th, 1884.* This example went into the 

 " Monk " Collection, and finally passed into the Booth Museum 

 at Brighton. 



A few months ago I had the opportunity of examining the 

 specimen in question, and I have no hesitation in saying that 

 it is not a Red- throated Pipit at all, but merely a brightly- 

 coloured example of the Meadow- Pipit {Anthus pratensis). 

 During the spring (March and April) large flocks of Meadow- 

 Pipits arrive on the coast of Sussex, and all the males of these 

 immigrants are very brightly coloured — in some the coloration 

 of the throat and upper breast is almost as red as in some 

 examples of Anthus cervinus — and it is undoubtedly owing 

 to this fact that the bird in question has been wrongly 

 identified. 



If we exclude the Red-throated Pipit which was formerly 

 in the collection of the late Mr. Bond, labelled " Unst, May 

 4th, 1854" (Saunders' Manual, p. 135), the first British 

 example is either the bird obtained by Mr. Prentis at Rainham, 

 Kent, in April, 1880, or the undoubted example of A. cervinus 

 shot near St. Leonards, Sussex, on November 13th, 1895 

 (c/. ZooL, 1896, p. 101). 



The Red-throated Pipit may be readily identified at all 

 stages of plumage — except, perhaps, that of the nestling — 

 by the clear black marking to the centre of the feathers of the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts. The dark streaks on the 

 longest pair of under tail-coverts are not a rehable feature, 

 as these markings are frequently absent in Anthus cerviiius 

 and often present in Anthus pratensis. 



While on the subject of Pipits, I should like to point out 



* Borrer, "Birds of Sussex," p. 101; and Saunders," Manual," 

 p. 135, 2nd ed. 



