ANTHUS SIMILIS. 



(BEOWN ROCK-PIPIT.) 



Aqrodroma similis, Jerdon, Madr. Jouvn. xi. p. 3-5 (1840). 



Anthus similis (partim), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 135 (1849). 



Agrodroma sordida (nee Riipp.), Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 236 (1863). 



Corydalla richardi (nee Vieill.), Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 79. 



Agrodroma jerdrmi, Finsch, Trans. Zool. Soc. vii. p. 241 (1870). 



Corydalla griseorufescens, Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 286. 



Agrodroma griseorufescens (Hume), Cock & Marshall, Str. Feath. i. p. 356 (1873). 



Anthus sordidus (nee Riipp.), Blanford, E. Pers. ii. p. 237 (1876). 



Anthus jerdoni (Finsch), Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. x. p. 562 (1885). 



Figura unica. 

 Henderson & Hume, Lahore to Yarkand, pi. xxi. 



Ad. supra fuscus, griseo tinctus, plumis medialiter saturate fusco striatis et pallide fulvido marginatis : remi- 

 gibus saturate fuscis, fulvido marginatis : rectricibus nigro-fuscis, rectrice extima in pogonio externo 

 rufescenti-cervino et eodem colore terminate, reliquis rufescenti-cervino marginatis : stria, superciliari 

 et corpore subtus fulvido-cervinis : mento fere albido : pectore indistincte pallide fusco guttato : rostro 

 fusco, mandibula ad basin pallide carnea : pedibus flavido-carneis : iride fusca. 



Adult Male (Etawah, winter) . Upper parts hair-brown with an ashy tinge, the feathers with dark brown 

 shaft-stripes and margined with pale fulvous ; the wings dark brown, the feathers margined with 

 warm fulvous ; tail blackish brown, the outermost rectrix with the outer web and terminal portion 

 pale creamy rufous, the next feather broadly tipped with creamy rufous, and the rest of the tail- 

 feathers narrowly margined with the same colour ; superciliary stripe and underparts warm fulvous 

 buff, the chin nearly white, and on the breast a few pale brownish spots : bill dark brown, except at 

 the base of the lower mandible, where it is pale fleshy ; legs yellowish flesh ; iris brown. Total length 

 about 7'5 inches, culmen 0'78, wing 4"0, tail 3"55, tarsus P12. 



The sexes do not differ, but in the late summer the plumage becomes much worn and therefore considerably 

 paler, the underparts being then pale creamy. I have therefore figured this Pipit in the foreground 

 in the pale summer dress, and in the background in the winter plumage. 



The Brown Rock-Pipit inhabits the elevated plateau of Persia, ranging eastward through 

 Afghanistan and Baluchistan to India. Mr. Blanford (E. Pers. ii. p. 237) obtained two females 

 at Shiraz, Persia, in June, and one example about fifty miles north of Ispahan in April. 

 According to Lieut. H. E. Barnes it is not uncommon in Southern Afghanistan ; and Capt. Butler 

 observed it near Kurrachee and Kotri in Sind, in which country it is, Mr. Hume writes (Stray 

 Feath. 1873, p. 203), " decidedly uncommon. It may occur there more plentifully, perhaps, in 

 the autumn ; but during December, January, and February, when I was in Sind, I only saw it 

 twice, once near Hyderabad and once near Kurrachee." 



Y 



