THE TREE PIPIT. 1 37 



and 26 deg. S. Canon Tristram found it spar- 

 ingly distributed in Palestine in winter, and in 

 spring in the Jordan valley. It is recognised by 

 naturalists in north-west India, and there can 

 be little doubt that the Pipit which has been de- 

 scribed from that country, and from China and 

 Japan, under the name of Anthus agilis, Sykes, 

 is only our old friend A. arborcus in a different 

 plumage from that which it assumes here in 

 summer. Herr von Pelzeln says' that agilis 

 only differs from arboreus in having a stouter 

 bill, and he does not think that it can be specifi- 

 cally distinct, notwithstanding that Dr. Jerdon 

 gives both species as inhabitants of India. On 

 this point Mr. Hume says (" Ibis," 1870, p. 287) : 

 " I took nine specimens of arboreus from Eng- 

 land and France, and compared them with our 

 Indian birds. There was no single one of 

 them to which an exact duplicate could not be 

 selected from amongst my Indian series. That 

 all our Indian Pipits known as agilis, macidatus, 



1 Cf. "Journ. fur Orn.," 1868, pp. 21-37. 



