18 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Anthun rufomperaUaris Bi,YTB, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1860, 105 (Pegu). 



ATdhus thermophilus Swinhoe, Ibis, 1860, 55, 429 ( Amoy, China) ; 1861, 36, 411. 



Anihus japonicus (not Anlhus pratensis japonicus Temminck and Schlegel) Swin- 

 hoe, Ibis, 1861, 333 (n. China) ; 1863, 443 (n. Japan). 



Anthus ruficollis "Vieill." Lesson, Traits d'Om., 1831, 424.— Heuolin, Orn. 

 N. O.-AJr., i, 1869, 323. 



(?) Anthus pelopus Hodgson, in Gray's Zool. Misc., \L844, 83. 



ANTHUS PRATENSIS (Linnaeus). 

 MEADOW PIPIT. 



Adults {sexes alike").— Above clear, somewhat buflfy, olive, conspicu- 

 ously streaked, except on rump and upper tail-coverts, with black or 

 dusky, the streaks broadest on back ; upper tail-coverts indistinctly 

 darker medially; wings and tail dusky grayish brown, with pale olive 

 edgings, the middle and greater wing-coverts broadly margined at tips 

 with still paler olive or pale olive-buffy, the tertials edged terminally 

 with the same; outermost rectrix with most of its outer web and much 

 of the inner web dull white, on the inner web extending next to shaft 

 halfway or more toward base, but for only a short distance along the 

 edge ; inner web of second rectrix with a white terminal spot ; an 

 indistinct superciliary stripe of pale yellowish olive or olive-yellowish, 

 more or less streaked with darker ; a broad malar stripe and entire 

 under parts pale brownish buffy or dull buffy whitish, the throat some- 

 times (in spring examples) more pronouncedly buff or cinnamon-buff; 

 chest, sides, and flanks conspicuously streaked with black or dusky, 

 the throat bordered along each side by a submalar series of black or 

 dusky streaks; maxilla dark brown or blackish, becoming pale brown 

 on tomia; mandible pale brownish, usually dusky terminally; iris 

 brown; legs and feet pale brownish (in dried skins). 



Young in first cmtwrnn and winter. — Similar to adults, but more 

 brownish or ochreous olive above, with dusky streaks less distinct, and 

 under parts more strongly buffy, especially on sides and flanks, with 

 the dusky streaks less sharply defined. 



Young in first plumage. — Similar to adults, but ground color of 

 upper parts paler and grayer; under parts dull grayish white or pale 

 buffy yellowish, with dusky streaks less sharply defined. 



Adult 7nale.~-'Li%xig'Ca. (skins), 145-155 (152.4); wing, 78-82 (80); tail, 

 56-63 (69.4); exposed culmen, 12; tarsus, 21; middle toe, 16; hind 

 claw, 10-12 (10.8).* 



oj am unable to detect, in a large series of specimens, any decided or constant dif- 

 ference in coloration according to season. In the more freshly assumed plumage of 

 autumn the general color of the upper parts is of a rather more decided olive hue, 

 and that of the under parts more decided buffy than in most spring examples; but a 

 considerable number of the latter are as strongly colored as any autumn or winter 

 examples, while one taken in December is in no respect distinguishable from others 

 taken in April. 



& Seven specimens. 



