152 



i" r ' '-'"*! 



I have already noticed the inquisitive disposition of this Pipit, and mentioned the circum- 

 stance of a flock keeping pace with a train for some miles. As you ride along the road they 

 keep before you, almost allowing your horse to tread on them, then rising with a shrill 

 "cheep," flying a few yards further, and so on again, till their curiosity is satisfied, when 

 they wheel upwards and fall to the rear. 



A partial albino from Canterbury has the upper surface of wings, sides of body and 

 abdomen, scapulars and tail-feathers greyish-white, the rest of the plumage normal. A 

 specimen which I saw in Dunedin in January last had the entire plumage of the body pure 

 white, the head only betraying the natural colours. 



A specimen which I purchased from Mr. W. Smyth, of Caversham, has the entire 

 plumage creamy-white, more or less stained on the upper surface, especially on the back, with 

 pale yellowish-brown. 



Mr. Langley, of Foxton, forwarded to me for examination the skin of a pure albino 

 of this species, very skilfully prepared by himself. There is also another perfect albino in 

 the Colonial Museum collection, obtained, I believe, in the Hawke's Bay district. 



Mr. Eobert Mair writes : " On a small island about four and a half miles from the 

 Poor Knights, and about eleven from the shore, the only land-bird I saw was a Pihoihoi 

 (Ground Pipit). Eather a strange place, I thought, for him!" 



There is no difference whatever in the plumage of the sexes. Out of a good number 

 I collected on one occasion, a bird I picked out as being a male proved on subsequent 

 dissection to be a female, and vice versa. 



The nest of this species is composed entirely of fine grass stems, placed loosely together, 

 and is generally accommodated to horses' footprints or other depressions in the ground. 



Dr. Otto Finsch who, in 1875, paid a visit to New Zealand and travelled through both 

 islands, published an account of his experiences, in which he stated that by far the com- 

 monest bird observed by him was this Pipit, which he met with everywhere. What is the 

 record now ? Mr. W. W. Smith, in a letter dated August 15th, 1903, says : — 





In crossing the great Ashburton moraine, which is an ideal habitat of the native Pipit {Anthus novce- 

 zealandice), we did not see a single specimen of this familiar old-time species. It would now be a rare 

 and pleasant occurrence, when riding across the open country, to observe a single Pipit, running and flying 

 short distances, alternately, along the tussock track, which habit you have so accurately sketched. I 

 painfully regret the disappearance of this denizen of the open tussock country. 



There are some ornithologists who would not find any difficulty in distinguishing sub- 

 species, founded on variations, in as common a bird as our House Sparrow. I can hardly 

 regard as more serious the attempt that has been made to differentiate three sub-species 

 of this common Pipit under the distinctive names of the typical Anthus novce-zealandicB novce- 

 zealandice, A. novce-zealandice reischeM, and A. novce-zealandice chathamiensis, and I have carefully 

 studied the minute descriptions given by Dr. Yon Lorenz (in the Annals of the Hofmuseum 

 of Vienna, xvii., 1902), but I can find nothing to justify the proposed separation. These 

 forms are founded on minute variations in the plumage ; but, while admitting a certain 

 amount of individual variation, I am quite unable to accept these distinctions as specific. 



I notice that Captain Hutton, when exhibiting to the Philosophical Society of Canterbury 

 an albino English Skylark, referred to it as the first example of the kind obtained in New 

 Zealand. This is not exactly the case, however, for in 1886 I received two specimens from Mr. 

 W. W. Smith, of Ashburton. One of these I presented to the British Museum and the other 

 to the Cambridge Museum. The fact is interesting, in itself, as showing the strong tendency 

 to albinism in this country even among introduced birds. 





