COEYDALLA STRIOLATA. 



(THE LARGE MEADOW-PIPIT.) 



Cichlqps thermophilics, Hodgs., Gray's Zool. Miscell. 1844, p. 83 (without description). 

 Anthus striolatus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1847, xvi. p. 435; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 136 



(1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 268. 

 Corydalla striolata (BL), Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 121 (1852); Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. 



p. 233 (1863) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 458 ; Brooks, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 359 ; Ball, 



ibid. 1874, p. 417; Fairbank, ibid. 1876, p. 260 ; Hume & Davison, B. of Tenass., Str. 



Feath. 1878, p. 366 ; Ball, ibid. vii. p. 220. 

 Anthus thermophilus (Hodgs.), Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 356 (1854). 

 The Mountain-Pipit, Kelaart. 



Adult male ami female. Length 7'1 inches ; wing 3 - 6 ; tail 2-8 ; tarsus 1*05 ; middle toe and claw 0*8 ; hind toe 

 043, claw - 5 ; bill to gape - 75 to 0-8. The tarsus and toes are short, and the hind claw much curved in this 

 species. The bill is also small for the bird. 



Iris brown ; bill, upper mandible dark brown, lower fleshy yellow, tip dusky ; legs and feet fleshy yellow, claws dusky. 



Ceylon (October). Above sepia-brown, the feathers more narrowly margined with a paler hue than C. richardi, giving 

 the edgings a more conspicuous appearance than in that species ; the penultimate rectrice has more white, and its 

 shaft is also white near the tip ; median and greater wing-coverts broadly edged with whitish, forming two bars 

 across the wing ; tertials and secondaries edged with tawny ; primaries pale-edged, the outer edge of the 1st 

 white ; from the nostril to the ear-coverts, the upper feathers of which are brown, a buff streak ; beneath 

 f ulvescent whitish ; throat and abdomen the palest ; a series of spots forming a line down the sides of the throat 

 and spreading over the chest, which is lightly washed with greyish buff; the flanks are paler than in the other 

 two species. 



Obs. The above is a description of the only Ceylonese example in my collection, about the identification of which I have 

 no doubt. I am therefore unable positively to say whether it is a fully adult bird. It, however, corresponds well 

 with specimens collected by Mr. Brooks at Dinapore, and with a skin in the late Mr. A. Anderson's collection ; 

 and therefore if due regard be paid to the peculiarities in the plumage of this specimen, taken in conjunction with 

 the well-marked character exemplified in the short and curved hind claw, the species ought to be correctly identified 

 by my readers in Ceylon. The hind claw varies in length in the last species, but it is always remarkably straight, 

 or, more correctly speaking, very gently curved ; whereas in the present species it is fairly curved, slightly more so 

 than in the Common Pipit next to be considered. Mr. Brooks's specimens are all characterized by the same 

 slender small beak ; the chests are marked with clearly-defined, small, rather pointed stripes, which have a 

 different appearance altogether from the softened down strioe in the last ; the centres of the back-feathers are 

 darker brown. Four examples from Dinapore measure respectively as follows : — wings 3 - 5, 3-6, 3 - 6, 3-6 inches ; 

 tails 3-5, 3 - 5, 3-5, 3 - 7 : hind claws - 5, 055, 0*4, 0-52. Mr. Anderson's specimen measures — wing 3 - 6 inches, 

 hind claw OS. The claw, therefore, varies but little. In my specimen the terminal portion of the shaft of the 

 penultimate feather is white, whereas in G. richardi it is black to the tip. In one of Mr. Brooks's skins it is the 

 same, but in all four the amount of white on the webs of this feather is somewhat less than in mine. Mr. Ball 

 states that in the Satpura hills specimens have very faint or no spotting on fhe breast. 



Distribution. — This species, which, like Richard's Pipit, is migratory to Ceylon, arrives in October, and, 

 according to some writers, is widely distributed. I have no doubt that it is so ; but it cannot be so numerous 

 as Richard's Pipit, which is probably taken for it by those who are not well acquainted with its distinguishing 

 characters. Kelaart speaks of it as being common at Nuwara Elliya ; but here he is evidently speaking of the 

 Common Titlark, which, on the hills, is a more robust bird than in the low country. Mr. Holdsworth says it is 

 not uncommon at Colombo in the north-east monsoon. I was unfortunate in not procuring it at the Galle face ; 

 many large Pipits which were shot by me on the Galle face during successive seasons all proved to be the 



