2) Gyo £2 
ed yee, Oo 
2 
and lesser coverts blackish brown, broadly margined and tipped with rufous; outermost tail-feather on 
each side pure white, excepting an oblique stripe from the base to nearly the centre of the inner web, 
which is sooty grey, next in order blackish, with the terminal half of the outer web and the portion of 
the inner web next to the shaft pure white; remaining rectrices blackish brown, the central feathers 
margined with rufous; from the base of the beak over the eye a whitish line; sides of the face dull light 
sandy brown, marked with dark brown; underparts generally white, on the throat, breast, and flanks 
washed with rufous-buff, the chin, however, being pure white; from the base of the lower mandible on 
each side runs a line of black spots to the upper part of the breast, which has a band of blackish spots 
across it; bill and iris brown; legs light brown. ‘Total length about 8 inches, culmen 0°75, wing 3°7, 
tail 3:25, tarsus 1:2, hind toe with claw 1:25, hind claw 0°78. 
Young (near Antwerp, autumn 1870). Resembles the bird last described, but has the upper parts duller 
and paler, and all the wing-coverts and inner secondaries conspicuously margined with white; the 
throat and chest are also somewhat more profusely spotted than in the adult. 
Obs. Specimens from Europe and Asia differ but very slightly either in colour or measurements; and as 
regards the latter, the variations in European specimens are as near as possible the same. I have 
carefully measured a similar number of Asiatic specimens to those I have from Europe, and on taking 
and comparing the average I find them to agree as nearly as possible. The average size of the whole 
series of specimens is—culmen 0765 inch, wing 3°696, tail 3°277, tarsus 1:215, hind toe with claw 
1:127; the variation bemg—culmen 0:7 to 0°82, wing 3°6 to 3°8, tail 3:2 to 3°45, tarsus 1:15 to 1:25, 
hind toe with claw 0-95 to 1:3. In coloration most of the Asiatic specimens agree precisely with those 
obtained near Antwerp; but one or two of the former are rather darker and more fulyous than the 
latter. 
Tus Pipit, most easily distinguishable by its long tarsus and extremely long hind claw, is found 
in small numbers in most parts of continental Europe, as well as in Great Britain, in Asia, and 
in North-east Africa, but is rare in the last-named country. 
In Great Britain it has occurred as frequently, if not more so than in any part of Northern 
or Central Europe ; and Mr. Harting states that as many as fifty specimens have been at various 
times seen or procured between September and April, both inclusive. These recorded occur- 
rences he tabulates as follows :—Northumberland two, Norfolk five, Shropshire one, Oxford one, 
Middlesex twelve, Kent three, Sussex five, Devonshire eleven, Cornwall and Scilly eight. Some 
of these may, on strict investigation, prove to rest on somewhat doubtful grounds; but there is 
no doubt that this Pipit has been met with tolerably often as a straggler to our island. Mr. Cecil 
Smith informs me that he does not believe it has been yet found in Somersetshire, though, as 
above stated, it has occurred several times in Devonshire. Mr. J. Gatcombe, in a letter just 
received, says that “‘within the past thirty years I have known eight examples of this bird to 
occur in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. Indeed I was the first to recognize the species in 
Devonshire, and that, too, when it was on the wing, flying over some fields in company with 
Titlarks. The bird was then followed up by my friend the Rev. G. Robinson, who, after a long 
chase, succeeded in shooting it. Another friend, Mr. J. Dodd, of Plymouth, who had a capital 
ear for the notes of birds, first heard it, and exclaimed ‘there’s a stranger,’ but neither he nor 
Mr. Robinson had the least idea what the bird was until I told them; and my words soon proved 
to be correct. There appeared to have been a small party of them, as the next day my friend 
