THE PIPITS. 
117 
feathers broadly centred with spots and streaks of dark brown ; 
flank-feathers olive brown, streaked with darker brown ; lower 
breast and abdomen as well as the under tail-coverts dull white, 
washed with pale olive-yellow. 
Noth. — The Roclc-Pipit can be told by the smoky-brown tint of the 
light pattern of the outer tail-feathers, which is found in birds of all ages. 
Range in Great Britain. — Resident on the rocky coasts of 
Scotland and Ireland, and also in England on suitable parts 
of the coast, but not breeding on the more open parts, where 
it occurs only as a migrant or winter visitor. 
Range outside the British Islands.— This is not yet well under- 
stood, as few authors have recognised the validity of the Scan- 
dinavian form of Rock-Pipit. We ourselves have never seen 
an undoubted specimen of our own Rock- Pipit from any other 
locality than the British Islands, hut the spotted-breasted 
form is said by Mr. Howard Saunders to occur in the Channel 
Islands and along the shores of Northern and Western France. 
In the other portions of Northern Europe it is represented by 
the Scandinavian form, A. rupestris. 
Habits. — In the south of England and on all our open coasts 
the Rock-Pipit is found on migration or in winter, and some- 
times in some numbers. Its actions are like those of the 
Meadow-Pipit, and it might be mistaken for the latter bird, were 
it not for its larger size and generally darker appearance. It 
runs along the shore or over the sea-weed, picking up its food, 
which consists of shore-insects and small mollusca ; it also 
feeds on seeds of marine plants, and the Rock-Pipits which 
we killed in Heligoland fed on some kind of insect which 
rapidly decomposed, so that on more than one occasion the 
skin of the gullet peeled off in a few hours, and the birds had 
to be attended to by ihe taxidermist very soon after death, to 
ensure their conservation. 
The Rock-Pipit breeds at the end of April or beginning of 
May, and during the pairing-season the song of the male is 
heard incessantly, as he springs into the air. Like other 
Pipits, the song is generally uttered as the bird descends with 
outspread wings and tail. Its notes are described as very 
musical, not unlike those of the Meadow-Pipit, but not equal 
to those of the Tree-Pipit. 
