PENNSYLVANIAN PllMT. 171 



Specific Characters. — Superciliary ridge rufous yellow. Bill 

 broad at the base, aud the upper mandible lias its dorsal line 

 sliglitly declinated at the end. Hind claw one-tenth, of an inch 

 longer than, toe, and more curved than in. A. pratensis, but less so 

 than in A. ohscurus. Upper plumage olive grey, and but slightly 

 mottled; lower plumage tinged with rufous, and thickly spotted 

 on the breast and flanks. 



Length six inches; from carpal joint to tip, three inches and 

 three-tenths; tarsus nine-tenths of an inch; hind toe seven-twen- 

 tieths of an. inch; claw of hind toe four-tenths of an inch. Beak 

 along ridge half an inch, from gape three-fifths of an inch. Tail 

 two inches and seven-tenths. 



There lias been so mucli confusion among the Pipits 

 in consequence of the close affinities of several nearly 

 allied species, and the usual misapplication of names 

 which attends the designation of such families, that I 

 have thought it best to give a figure and notice of this 

 bird, although it has occurred in the British Isles. 



I am the more induced to do this in the absence of 

 any very correct figure of the bird, except that of Ed- 

 wards, in the histories of our ornifauna; and also because 

 it enables me to separate the synonymes, and to restore 

 something like order in the diagnoses of the different 

 species. 



The Pennsylvanian Pipit, as I prefer calling it, in 

 order to perpetuate the original description and notice 

 of it by Brisson and Edwards, is, as its name expresses, 

 an inhabitant of the New World, occurring accidentally 

 in Heligoland and the British Islands. In the former 

 it has been captured by Her Giitke, and is included in 

 the list of birds published by him and Professor Blasius, 

 in "Naumannia" for 1858. In the British Islands it has 

 been taken frequently. Edwards says that in his time 

 it was often taken about London, where it may probably 

 still be found, mixed with Pratensis, Arboreus, or 



