The pipits. 
tiS 
length, 6-6 Inches; oilmen, 0-55 ; wing, 3-55 ; tall, 275 ; tar- 
sus, 0-95. 
Winter Plumage. — Like the summer plumage, but without the 
reddish colour on the under surface, which is whitish with a 
brown moustachial line on each side of the throat ; the fore- 
neck, chest, and breast spotted with brown, less distinct on the 
sides of the body and flanks ; light pattern on outer tail-feather 
white, the penultimate feather with a conspicuous white tip. 
Note. — The birds which visit England are always likely to be in win- 
ter plumage or to Ire immature birds. From the young of the Tawny- 
1’ipit they can be told by the streaks on the flanks, which are uniform in the 
latter bird. From the Meadow- Pipit they can be distinguished by having 
the end of the penultimate feathers brown along the outer weir ; in the 
Meadow-Pipit this part of the feather is white. From the Rock-Pipit, 
with which the Water- Pipit is most easily confounded, .it can be recognised 
by having the light part of the outer tail-feather white, instead of smoky- 
brown , as it is in A. obsevras. 
Range in Great Britain. — An accidental visitor in autumn and 
spring, four specimens having been recorded, all from the 
vicinity of Brighton. One was killed there in 1864, another 
near Worthing in the same year, a third near Shoreham in 
October, 1868, and a fourth near Lancing in March, 1877. 
Range outside the British Islands. — An inhabitant of the moun- 
tain regions of Central and Southern Europe, throughout Cen- 
tral Asia to the Altai Mountains, occurring also in the high 
ranges of Persia and Baluchistan. A smaller race, named 
Anthus blakistoni , is found in Eastern Siberia and China. 
Habits. — From its mountain-loving propensities, Mr. Seebohm 
prefers to call this species the “ Alpine ” Pipit, as it frequents 
only the higher mountain slopes above the forest growth during 
the breeding season, visiting the lowlands in the winter. He 
has given a good account of the nesting of the species in the 
Engadine, where he found it on the higher mountains, living 
in the same districts as the Marmot, “where the gentle ist of 
the Pipit contrasts with the loud mee-ik of the latter, these 
being almost the only signs of animal life in these regions.” 
The ways of the species are very similar to those of the 
Meadow-Pipit, its food consisting of insects, small worms and 
land-shells, but it is said to eat seeds in winter, when insect 
life fails. Like other Pipits, it runs actively along the ground, 
