224 BRITISH BIRDS. 



ANTHUS PBATENSIS. 

 MEADOW-PIPIT. 



(Plate 14.) 



Alauda pratensis, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 343 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 287 (1766) ; et 

 auctorum plurimorum — Latham, {Temminck), {Naumann), (JDegland ^ Gerbe), 

 {Bonaparte), {Sahadori), {Dresser), (Newton), &c. 



Anthus pratenais (Briss.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. iii. p. 564 (1812). 



Spipola pratensis (Briss.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. ^c. Brit. Mus. p. 21 (1816). 



Alauda sepiaria, Briss. apod Steph. Shaw's Oen. Zool x. p. 542 (1817). 



Leimoniptera pratensis (Briss.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 39 (1829). 



Antkus tristis, Baill. Mem. de la Soc. d'^mul. d'Abbev. p. 14 (1833). 



Antlius commiuiia, Blyth, White's Nat. Hist. Selborne, p. 261 (1850). 



The Meadow -Pipit is common throughout the British Islands^ including 

 the Channel Islands^ the Orkney and Shetland Islands^ the Hebrides^ and 

 St. Kildaj in all of which it is more or less a resident^ merely shifting its 

 quarters in winter from the mountains to the low-lying districts. It is 

 also a very common bird on the Faroes and Iceland^ and a single example 

 has been met with in Greenland. 



The Meadow-Pipit appears to be strictly confined to the western portion 

 of the Palsearctic Region from Iceland to the Ural Mountains in the norths 

 and from Morocco to Nubia^ Asia Minor, and Palestine in the south. In 

 North Europe it is principally known as a summer visitor, but a few 

 remain during winter in Germany. In the south of France, as with us, 

 it is a resident ; but in Spain, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, and 

 North Africa it is a winter visitor, a few only remaining to breed in the 

 mountains. It has been recorded from Turkestan, and even from India 

 and Siam ; but it seems probable that in all these cases the Red-throated 

 Pipit in winter plumage has been mistaken for it. 



The Meadow-Pipit is very nearly allied to the Tree-Pipit ; and Severtzow 

 says that on the mountains of Turkestan a Pipit breeds which is inter- 

 mediate between them. In connexion with this ^it may be remarked that 

 Harvie-Brown and I were surprised to find that in North-east Russia the 

 Meadow-Pipit was so much more arboreal in its habits than it is in this 

 country. The Meadow-Pipit is still more nearly allied to the Red-throated 

 Pipit, and examples in winter plumage are difficult to determine. The 

 few distinctive characters are carefully pointed out in the description of 

 the bird. It is not known that intermediate forms between the two last- 

 mentioned species occur. There are resident Pipits both on the Canaries and 

 Madeira; those from the latter island are a dwarf form of the Meadow-Pipit, 

 measuring only from 2'3 to 2'6 inch in length of wing, that of the Meadow- 



