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of rivers. Canon Tristram (Ibis, 1861, p. 414) obtained one specimen, shot out of a small flock, 
in the marsh at the edge of the oasis of Laghouat in November 1856. He believes also that he 
saw a flock of this bird (if not of A. obscurus) in January 1857 in the swamps near Tuggurt. 
To the eastward the Water-Pipit occurs in Persia (whence Mr. Blanford brought back a 
series of specimens), in North-west India, in the Amoor country, and, according to Mr. Swinhoe, 
in China and the Kurile Islands. Indian specimens of the Water-Pipit differ from those obtained 
in Europe and Western Asia in being rather smaller in size and in having the spots on the breast 
in the winter-plumage very small and clearly defined, utterly unlike those on the breast of our 
European Water-Pipit. In Canon Tristram’s collection are two specimens, one from Jericho 
and the other from Algeria, which are nearly as small as those from India; but I think that 
these latter may be distinguished by the peculiarly clear markings on the breast. According to 
Mr. Brook's labels they have the legs dark brown, and not blackish like our European bird. 
The average size of my series of specimens from various parts of Europe and North Africa is— 
culmen 0°69, wing 3°43, tail 2°69, tarsus 1:0; whereas the average of those from India is— 
culmen 0-6, wing 3:11, tail 2°38, tarsus 0-9. Mr. W. E. Brooks, of Etawah, first observed the 
above differences in the Water-Pipits from India, and sent specimens to Canon Tristram, 
requesting him to describe it under the name of Anthus neglectus; and if, as I believe will 
be the case, further investigation proves the correctness of Mr. Brooks’s views, the Indian 
Water-Pipit will bear that name. Canon Tristram, however, having before him only the 
two specimens from Jericho and Algeria, and no series of European examples, hesitated to 
describe it as a new species. I give above a table of measurements showing the variation in 
size of specimens from various localities. Mr. A. O. Hume (Stray Feathers, p. 204) writes that 
this Indian Water-Pipit is “not at all uncommon in the Western Punjaub and in Northern 
Sindh, where it is often met with in the neighbourhood of canals and streams. I obtained it on 
the banks of the Indus, at Mittencote, near Jacobobad, Shikarpore, and Mehur: but I did not 
notice it south of Sehnan. Besides the localities I have already mentioned, I have it from 
Mooltan, Lahore, Goorgoon, Ferozepore, Etawah, and the interior of the Simla hills, near 
Koteghur.” 
Mr. Swinhoe writes to me respecting the occurrence of the Water-Pipit in China as follows :— 
“ Blakiston first got the bird at Chinkiang, on the Yangtsze; and on his specimen I based my 
Anthus blakistont. ‘This was a small female shot in February, and has only a few small light 
spots on the breast. In November 1866 an unsexed specimen was brought to me at Amoy. It 
was also small, but largely and darkly spotted on the breast. Von Schrenck has sent me a male 
from the Kurile Islands which is larger and more fulvous; but it bears no date. I have never 
noticed the bird in a wild state.’ Ihave several specimens from South-eastern Siberia, where 
it appears to be tolerably common during the spring. 
The Water-Pipit differs in its habits from the Rock-Pipit, more especially in being an 
inhabitant of hilly and rugged districts far inland; and only durimg the seasons of migration 
does it appear to visit the sea-shore, where the Rock-Pipit is always to be found. So partial 
is it to mountainous districts that in the mountain-chains of Southern Hurope it is a true 
alpine species, inhabiting the higher regions during the breeding-season, and only descending 
into the valleys during the winter when driven down by the inclemency of the weather and 
