7 
consequent scarcity of food. Wherever it is found, however, there must be water in the 
immediate neighbourhood; and in the summer it is most generally to be met with im rocky 
and desolate localities close to a mountain-burn, often at a considerable altitude, even above 
the forest growth, in the immediate vicinity of the eternal snow. Bailly states that it 
leaves the lowlands about the end of March or early in April, and resorts to the mountains, 
generally arriving there in small flocks, and waiting until their breeding-haunts are clear of 
snow. ‘They soon pair, and by the early part of May they commence the serious business of 
nidification. ‘Iwo broods are sometimes raised during the season ; but this does not appear always 
to be the case, and is probably so only during mild seasons. It is a shy bird, and less easily 
approached than almost any of the Pipits; its flight is irregular, not swift or protracted, and 
somewhat resembles that of the Meadow-Pipit. During the breeding-season, when the female 
is sitting, the male remains in the immediate vicinity of the nest, generally resting on some 
point of a rock, a branch, or the summit of a bush, from which it rises twenty or thirty yards 
into the air singing, and descends like the Meadow-Pipit, still uttering its song until it reaches 
its perch again, recommencing its aerial flight again after a short interval of repose. Its song 
resembles that of the Meadow-Pipit, but is deeper in tone and harsher. Bechstein compares 
it with that of the Swallow and the Siskin; and Bailly says that it consists of the syllables 7%, 
Ju, flr, fiz fi, fis pi, pt, pt, thi, thi, thi, repeated softly at first, and gradually becoming more rapid 
in utterance; when it flies up it utters a note like the word hiisch once or twice, or sometimes 
only once. It runs swiftly, like a Wagtail, and will wade into the water until it reaches the 
tibia, carrying the body erect, and every now and again moving its tail. According to Bechstein 
it bears captivity well, and may be kept for years in an aviary or a large cage. It feeds on small 
insects and larvee, especially gnats and various kinds of insects and worms that frequent the 
water, and likewise devours minute snails, according to Naumann, especially Helix auricularia. 
In searching for food it much resembles the Wagtails in its habits. 
The nest is placed on the ground amongst loose stones, in a crevice of rock, or else amongst 
herbage, the latter being the most common position. According to Bailly it is frequently found 
under the shelter of the Rhododendron ferrugineum or Vaccinium vitisidea, and is constructed of 
fine roots intermixed with pieces of moss, and lined with fine rootlets, a few horse-hairs, dry 
grass-bents, and pieces of wool, and usually contains from four to five eggs, which are deposited 
late in April or early in May. I have in my collection a series of eggs from Switzerland which 
have the ground-colour greyish white, and are closely spotted and marked with minute hair- 
brown, or, in some specimens, reddish brown markings, which are usually distributed equally 
over the surface; but in some they are almost confluent towards the larger end. They bear a 
general resemblance to the eggs of Anthus obscurus, and are not easy to distinguish from them ; 
one is so closely spotted with dull dark reddish brown as to look almost uniform brown in colour, 
whereas others have the ground-colour clearly showing between the spots; some have the ground- 
colour with a faint olive-green tinge. In size the eggs in my collection vary from $3 by 23 inch 
to 3% by 23. 
In September or, should the season be mild, in October the Water-Pipit forsakes the 
mountains and descends into the plains, arriving singly or in family parties, but seldom in flocks. 
Here they frequent the damp meadows or marshes wherever the water remains unfrozen; and 
