248 BRITISH BIRDS. 



ANTHUS SPINOLETTA. 

 ALPINE PIPIT. 



(Plate 14.) 



Alauda campestris, Sriss. Orn. iii. p. 349 (1760). 



Alauda spinoletta*, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 288 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum— 



Omelin, {Bonaparte), {Begland ^ Oerhe), (Salaadori), (Newton), (Bresser), &c. 

 Anthus aquaticus, Bechst. Orn. Tasch^nh. iii. p. 564 (1812). 

 Anthus montanus, Koch, Syst. barer. Zool. i. p. 179 (1816). 

 Antlrns coutellii, Aud. Descr. de VEyypte, p. 360, pi. 5. fig. 5 (1828). 

 Anthus spinoletta (Linn?), Bonap. Comp. List B. Hur. 8r N. Amer. p. 18 (1838). 

 Anthus nigripes, Ehr.fide Bresser, B. Eur. iii. p. 335 (1874). 



The Alpine Pipit has only been obtained in our islands^ without doubt, 

 three or four times. The first clearly identified specimens were recorded 

 by Mr. J. Pratt in the 'Zoologist' for 1864 (Gould, 'Ibis/ 1865, p. 114). 

 One was killed near Worthing, and another some time previously on the 

 beach near Brighton. A third specimen was killed at Shoreham on the 

 26th of October, 1868 (Dawson Rowley, 'Zoologist,' 1869, p. 1683). 



The Alpine Pipit may almost be said to be a circumpolar bird. It will, 

 however, be more convenient to subdivide it into three forms — a Western 

 Palsearctic, an Eastern Paleearctic, and a Nearctic form, the first two 

 differing only in size and the last two differing only in colour, and all of 

 them connected by intermediate forms and overlapping each other's ranges 

 in a very extraordinary manner. The European Alpine Pipit [A. spinoletta) 

 is a very local resident in most parts of mountainous Europe. It has not 

 been recorded from Scandinavia or North-west Russia ; but it is said to 

 pass through Denmark and Heligoland on migration, and it appears to 

 breed in the Ural Mountains up to lat. 64°. It winters in South Germany, 

 Holland, Belgium, Asia Minor, Palestine, Algeria, and Egypt. In the 

 mountainous parts of Spain, Prance, North Germany, and especially in the 

 Alps, it is found in winter only on the plains, breeding on the mountains. 

 It breeds in the highlands of Persia and Baluchistan, and winters in 

 Afghanistan. It is a resident in Turkestan, and has been obtained from 

 the Altai Mountains. The eastern form of the Alpine Pipit, A. spinoletta 

 var. blakistoni, is a very common summer visitor to the mountains near 

 Lake Baikal, but is a resident in China, retiring to the mountains to 

 breed. In Mongolia it is said to be a summer visitor in some parts, and 

 to remain during the winter in others. It also winters in Scinde and the 



* Linnssus founded this species upon " the bird called Spipoletta at Florence " of Ray 

 and Willughby. It is spelt " spinoletta " both in the tenth and twelfth editions ; and as 

 the name has been so universally employed it does not seem worth while to alter it. 



