KTJNGL. S. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 40. N:0 5. 55 



Pipit chooses such localities to have its egg and youngs protected against the Great 

 Skua and other foes. Låter in the summer and towards the autumn I have in vain 

 looked for j-oungs of the Pipit. I conclude from this that the youngs do not leave 

 their well protected nest before they are so fully fledged that they can shift for them- 

 selves, find tbeir food without help, and fly well enough to avoid the danger of being 

 swallowed alive by the Great Skua. > 



»In the spring when the pairing season begins the male Pipit sits on top of 

 some rocky hill and sings. He may then be heard from the dawn of the day, 4 

 o'clock till late in the evening. He sings, however, most eagerly morning and even- 

 ing. The twittering notes of the Pipit are somewhat monotonous but they appear, 

 nevertheless, beautiful and lovely in the harsh, antarctic surroundings. » 



»The Pipit lives much at the sea-shore where it principally finds its food. 

 When it is low tide it runs round among seaweed and kelp seeking food. It is a 

 nice little bird and when it flies from stone to stone at the shore it utters some 

 twittering notes, -somewhat resembling those of the Common Wagtail when it pursues 

 its flight in vertical curves. » 



>The Pipit of South Georgia is not at all afraid of human visitors. On the 

 contrary it could almost be termed »sociable». If somebody walks along the shore 

 the Pipits come flying from everywhere and alight on the ground near the walker 

 whom they afterwards accompany, often a long way, partly running on the ground 

 partly flying. Or, if somebody rows in a boat some little way off the shore the 

 Pipits come flying and circle round the head of the man, as if they were looking for 

 a suitable place where to alight, and, in fact, it sometimes happened that they sat 

 down in the stern, or the stem.» 



»Near the nest, again, thej r use quite different tactics. Their cautiousness and 

 shyness there is quite astonishing. For instance, when I häng outside the crevice 

 in the rock in which a nest was situated, and tried by means of spikes and iron- 

 bars to break in to the nest, the parental birds remained sitting quietly some good 

 wa} T off. They appeared perfectly unconcerned and did not mind the work at all. 

 No plaintive notes, no flapping över my head betrayed that they had their treasure, 

 eggs or young, in that hole. Finally I went off without result and watched the 

 place some way off to see if the birds would soon visit the nest. I had to wait 

 almost an hour before the birds came, and then, from another direction, they flew 

 directly into the hole. > 



In the winter the Pipit is not so often seen on land as in the summer. It is 

 then mostly found in small flocks at the shore, and probably wanders from one place 

 to the other as it is much less seen. I have also a few times found dead Pipits 

 after snow-storms. These may have starved to death in consequence of the snow 

 covering the ground, because the coldness is less sharp when the snow-storm blows 

 than on many other occasions. » 



Von den Stetnen (12) found the Pipit also out on the sea on the kelp. 



