54 E. LÖNNBERG. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FAUNA OF SOUTH GEORGIA. 



Without stretching this comparison any longer the above may be sufficient as 

 an example of how biological parallels, and to a certain extent structural parallels 

 may be developed from quite different sources in consequence of similar conditions 

 offering similar chances for existence. 



Anthus antarcticus Cabanis 1884. 



J 1 g Moraine Fjord, Cumberland Bay the 30th of Marcli 1905. »Iris black.» 



^ The same loeality the 6th of Aug. 1905. 



5 (skeleton) found dead in the Moraine Fjord, Cumberland Bay the 24th of Dec. 1904. 



j 1 (skeleton) found dead in the West fjord, Cumberland Bay, the 12th of Marcli 1905. 



These specimens agree with each other with regard to the colour of the plum- 

 age. The white of the outermost tailfeather varies somewhat in extent and intensity, 

 the second tailfeather is slightly tipped with white in all specimens, but in a dif- 

 ferent degree in different specimens. The plumage is very thick in all three speci- 

 mens but especially in the one shot in August. The feathers in the middle of the 

 back of this one attain a length of about 4 cm. and the others in proportion to this. 

 This thick wintercoat is of course an adaptation to the severe climate of the island 

 which this hardy little pipit does not try to evade through migration. Length of 

 wing 82 — 84 mm. 



The Pipit of South Georgia was already at the first discovery of the island 

 observed by the naturalists accompanying Capt. Cook, Messrs. Forster and Dr. 

 Sparrman, who spöke about it as a lark. The Antarctic Pipit has always been the 

 favourite of people visiting South Georgia and its twittering notes have been found 

 to be a charming music by the side of the hoarse screams of different kinds of 

 sea birds. 



Von den Steinen (12) has reported about its habits, and the German expedi- 

 tion 1882 — 83 succeeded in obtaining an egg and youngs. The egg was described by 

 Pagenstecher (1) in the following words: »triib graugriin, dicht bedeckt mit schmut- 

 zig rothbraunen Strichen und Flecken, 22 mm. long, 17 min. breit.» The nest was 

 found hid in tussock-grass and constructed of similar material. This was, however, 

 p robably an exception because Sörling observed several nesting places, and they were 

 all of them situated in crevices of the rocks, in fact so deep and in so narrow cre- 

 vices that the nests were out of reach. 



In his field-notes Sörling has written about this: »In the spring, in the middle 

 of No v. the Pipit breeds on rocky hillocks which have a growth of tussock-grass. 

 It builds its nest in crevices in the rocks in the most unaccessible places. I have 

 not seen any eggs or youngs of the Pipit, but it must breed there, because I have 

 seen several times how Pipits with the bill filled with food came flying from the 

 sea-shore and entered each time a certain hole in the rocky wall between the tus- 

 sok-tufts. Every time I climbed up to try to find the eggs I have found the cre- 

 vices so narrow, that I could not get but a couple of fingers through the opening, 

 and the nest was situated up to 60 — 70 cm. inside this hole. I suppose that the 



