RED-THROATED PIPIT. 99 



Length of male six inches and a half; from carpus to tip three inches 

 and a half; beak from gape three quarters of an inch; beak along ridge 

 of upper mandible half an inch; tarsus nine tenths of an inch; hind toe 

 two fifths of an inch; claw two fifths of an inch; middle toe seven tenths 

 of an inch, and its claw a quarter of an inch. Length of female six 

 inches; carpus to tip three inches and one tenth; beak from gape seven 

 tenths of an inch ; beak on upper ridge two fifths of an inch ; rest as male. 



The Pipits are a very natural but distinct family, closely allied to 

 the Wagtails on the one side, and to the true Larks on the other. 

 They are also very similar to each other, differing principally in 

 colour, and in the shape of the hind claw. Each species is in fact 

 adapted to the circumstances of its existence. Our own British species 

 illustrates this very well. The Tree Pipit, living principally on trees 

 or bushes, has the hind claw short and curved; the Meadow Pipit, 

 which lives more on the ground, has the hind claw double the length 

 of the former, but nearly straight; while the Rock Pipit, which lives 

 upon insects and seeds found on the mud of rivers, has the hind 

 claw considerably curved, which enables it to secure a firm footing on 

 the mud. 



The Red-throated Pipit belongs to the Pock Pipit branch of the 

 family; its claw being much curved. There has been much confusion 

 about the bird in consequence of this fact being overlooked. Schlegel, 

 Degland, and others have considered it a local variety of A. pratensis. 

 But if it is a local variety or race of anything, it must be of A. 

 obscurus, (Rock Pipit,) and not of the Meadow. 



The Red-throated Pipit is an inhabitant of Northern Europe and 

 Northern Africa. Middendorff, ("Sibirische Reise," vol. ii., p. 165,) 

 remarks, "It is generally Anthus rupestris, (Rock Lark,) that is con- 

 sidered the northern representative of the genus. I have not met 

 with one in North Siberia for years, and only exceptionally on the 

 European coast of the Russian or Northern Ocean. There is in the 

 extreme north of the old world the A. cervinus, Pallas, in great 

 multitudes." 



It is found plentifully in Egypt, Nubia, Greece, Turkey, and 

 Barbary, during the winter; and Colonel Irby writes to me from 

 Gibraltar, — "I obtained two specimens of this bird on the 10th. of 

 March." It also occurs in Italy, as stated by Salvadori, " Fauna 

 d'ltalia," as follows: — "This species is entirely distinct from A. pra- 

 tensis. It is rare in Italy. Durazzo has found it in Liguria, and I 

 found two individuals in the market of Firenza in May, 1861. Perini 

 states it is found regularly during its passage in the Veronese, and 



