but it is abundant in Lower Bengal. It is also found
It always affects swampy or wet ground, grassy
either singly or in small parties. Its flight is

is more rare in Southern India, especially in the Carnatic ;
in Ceylon, in Burmah, and other countries to the eastward.

beds of rivers, edges of tanks, and especially wet rice-fields, aie be
o, and it flies some distance in general before it alights again. Swinhoe says

e, elezant, and undulatin
‘ee 1 ina, but that this wears off: perhaps he here alludes to the race regarded

a ee : ee oe
it is very ochreous on its arrival in C i oe
as distinct and named sinensis by Bonaparte. The Corydalla Richard: 1s brought in large numbers to Calcutta

and sold as Ortolan.” |
« Richard’s Pipit,” says M. Bailly, ‘inhabits Spain, the south of Germany, and the environs of Vienna, in

Austria; it is also found in France, but more frequently in the oes than in the northern para that
country. It is rare in Savoy; I have only met with it from the beginning of Sepiember to the middle of
October, always solitary ; and it leaves us again before the frost sets in, for warmer climates. Although I have
not found this bird during the. nesting-season, I feel convinced that it occasionally breeds here, because during
an excursion to the forests of Saint Michel-des-Déserts a shepherd brought me the nest of a Pipit he
had just taken from the ground in a neighbouring meadow ; it was larger than that of any of the Pipits
known to breed with us, and was outwardly composed of moss mingled with filaments of dried grasses, and
lined with hairs and some small tufts of sheep’s wool. It contained three eggs, which were unlike those of the
other Pipits in colour, larger and rounder, their shells somewhat glossy, and sprinkled over with a
number of irregularly shaped brown spots, tinged here and there with a reddish hue, and so numerous at
the larger end that the whitish ground-colour was scarcely perceptible. Upon showing them to several
ornithologists, they agreed in the opinion that they were the eggs of Anthus Richard.

“The bird always arrives in Savoy early in the morning, and, after the sun has risen, is found in the
open fields, sometimes in the vineyards, but more frequently on fallow and waste lands, and in stony places
near open plains. Like the Wagtail, it runs quickly after insects, worms, grasshoppers, and crickets, and
sometimes seizes passing gnats and flies. Occasionally it may be seen at rest beside a clod of earth or a
stone; like several of its congeners, it mounts on heaps of straw, maize, and peas, and occasionally the
thatch of the barns, to capture the insects which resort thither in the early morning to enjoy the first rays
the sun. I have never seen it in trees, nor even in bushes. About nine or ten o’clock it leaves the more
sunny and exposed situations, and seeks the shade among clover, lucerne, buckwheat, and potatos ; in the
afterpart of the day it searches for its insect food in the newly turned earth and the fields, and a little before sun-
set retires to the corn-fields for the night, sometimes settling behind a clod of earth or turf. Being of a tame
disposition, it is easily approached. When commencing its flight it generally utters some notes very similar
to those of Anthus rufescens, but so much louder that they may be heard at a considerable distance. The
notes resemble the words pret piet, pret piet, pret piet. Its flight is heavier than that of the Pipits gene-
rally, and is more like that of a Lark. In autumn its flesh becomes loaded with fat, and it is then
considered a very delicate morsel.”

The Plate represents a male, in winter, from a British-killed specimen in the collection of Mr. Bond ;

the darker-coloured figure is from one of the examples taken at Highgate, mentioned above. The
beautiful little plant is the Fly-Orchis (Orchis muscifera).