ANTHUS CAMPESTRIS.
Tawny Pipit.

Alauda campestris, Briss. Orn., tom. iii. p. 349.

Anthus campestris, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom iii. p. 722.

rufescens, Temm. Man. d’Orn., tom. i. p. 267.’

Alauda mosellana, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 794.

—— grandior, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. i. p. 525.

Agrodroma rufescens, Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 293.
campestris, Jerd. Birds of India, vol. ii. p. 234.

Anthus paludosa, Bonn. Ency. Méth. Orn., part. 1. p. 313.

 

Tue first instances of the occurrence of this bird in Britain were recorded in the ‘Ibis’ for 1863, by G.
Dawson Rowley, Esq., of Brighton, a gentleman much attached to the ornithology of this country ; and as
from his well-known acumen and research with regard to the oology of our islands his opinions are regarded
with attention, I cannot do better than give his account of them nearly in his own words :—

‘The fact that the Tawny Pipit is common in France would lead us to suppose it might be found more
or less frequently on our south coasts. I think I can prove that in two instances it has been shot near
Brighton, and I have little doubt that more examples would have been noticed had the attention of Orni-
thologists been directed to the species. Late on the evening of September 24, 1862, a person named Wing
brought a Pipit in the flesh to Mr. George Swaysland, of Queen’s Road, Brighton, with directions to stuff it
for him. Swaysland saw at once that it was a curious bird, induced Wing to part with it, took a note of
where it was procured, and sent for me. The memorandum stated that Wing had shot the bird on the
cliff about a mile and a half from Rottingdean near Brighton. Under the impression that it was Anthus
Richard, 1 compared it with the descriptions of that species in the works of Yarrell and Morris ; but the
hind claw proving much too short I began to suspect we had a new bird before us. Ultimately I sent it to
Mr. Gould, who replied, ‘the bird is the Tawny Pipit (Anchus campestris), apparently a fine old male, in
summer plumage. The spotted markings on the chest are unusual, but I have no doubt I am right as to its
name ; others ought to be found on our southern coasts, as the bird is common in the central parts of
France and Spain.’

“T and Swaysland had previously thought that it was a young bird of the year, and still incline to that
opinion, though hesitating to differ from so great an authority. We were induced to think so by the fine
hair-like feathers about the vent, and the light edging of the feathers of the back, a character which is to be
found in all our Larks and Pipits during their first plumage. It subsequently came to our remembrance
that another specimen, which had been sold to Henry Collins, Esq., of Aldsworth near Emsworth, as an
Anthus Richard, was precisely like the one under examination. Upon this I wrote to Mr. Collins, a gen-
tleman whose collection is rich in British-killed birds ; and he, in the most liberal manner, directly placed
it at my disposal. I knew there could not be the slightest doubt that the latter was a bond fide British-killed
bird, as it had been shot by Harding, a domestic servant in Brighton, and a highly respectable man, with
whom I am well acquainted and can quite depend upon. I was therefore much pleased to find it exactly
similar to the other, particularly in the short hind claw, which is long in 4. Richard, and to observe that
Mr. Collins’s example is even finer than Swaysland’s. On inquiry, Harding informed me that it was shot
by him on the 17th of August 1858, about seven o’clock in the morning, close to a shallow pool near
Shoreham Harbour. Upon my asking what called his attention to this bird more than others, he having
mentioned that there were several Rock-Pipits about at the time and Meadow-Pipits in abundance, he said its
note struck him as different to the Titlark’s—‘ It came piping down from above,’ and readily allowed him to
approach. Mr. Collins’s bird, which I believe is also a male, is evidently older than Swaysland’s. It seems
probable, when we consider the time of year at which it was killed, that it had bred somewhere in this
country, perhaps not far off, and was about to depart. The Rottingdean bird likewise had doubtless
migration in view. Mr. Tristram says this bird is che Pipit of the Sabara, and Mr. Wheelwright states that
it occurs in Sweden. Ranging so widely, it is strange no instances of its occurrence here have been pre-
viously recorded.”

In 1865 Mr. Rowley reported in the ‘Ibis’ that a third example had been caught near Brighton, and
brought alive to Mr. Swaysland on the 30th of September 1864.

That other individuals have from time to time been killed in England and mistaken for Richard’s Pipits,
I think is more than probable ; and now that attention has been directed to the subject, others will doubtless
be detected ; for it is hardly to be supposed that-a bird so common upon the continent of Europe during