ANTHUS RICHARDIL, Pie.
Richard’s Pipit.

Anthus Richardii, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. xxvi. p. 491.

longipes, Hollandre, Faune de la Moselle, p. 84.
rupestris, Ménétr. Catal., p. 37.

Corydalla Richardi, Vig. in Zool. Journ., vol. ii. p. 397.
——— sinensis, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 247, Corydalla, sp. 2?

 

 

 

Tue Anthi or Pipits principally reside in the Old World, over which they are far and widely distributed. In
Europe they are abundant, both in species and individuals ; in India and China they are equally numerous, and
they are not without a representative in Japan. These grass-loving birds are graceful in form and elegant in
deportment ; their ample wings enable them to fly with vigour and continuance, their long legs to run with
great facility; their claws, particularly the hinder one, are generally lengthened and slender ; their plumage
is never gay or brilliant, but usually assimilates to that of the herbage with which they are surrounded ;
and the sexes do not differ in their tints, and scarcely in size. Ofall the species known, the present, if not the
largest, is certainly the most elegant in form, the most graceful in appearance, and the one which stands
forth conspicuously as the chief of the European species: at the same time it is the rarest and the
least-known, very little having been ascertained respecting its habits and economy, either in this country
or in any part of the globe. Its visits to the Continent and to us are very uncertain. It may be here to-day
or to-morrow, and years may roll round before it comes again. Its breeding-places are unknown to us, and
its eggs are desiderata in the cabinets of all oologists. In 1824 Mr. Vigors exhibited to the Meeting of the
Zoological Club of the Linnean Society a specimen which had been taken alive in the fields on the northern
side of London. In the spring of 1836 two others were also captured alive near the Metropolis; and
in the autumn of 1866 I saw two more living examples, which had been taken near Highgate. These
were birds of the year, and, although they were placed in the aviary of the Zoological Society, and every care
taken of them, did not long survive. They had evidently been bred in some northern country, as
they were passing southwards with other migrants when they were taken. Mr. Gatcombe believes that the
bird occasionally remains the entire winter in some parts of England, and in confirmation of this opinion has
sent me the following note :—‘‘ Nine specimens of the Richard’s Pipit have occurred to my certain knowledge
in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, seven of which have been killed by myself, my brother, and friends, and
are now preserved in different collections. It seems to me that the species must remain with us during the
whole winter, from the dates on which the specimens above-mentioned were obtained. Four of them made
their appearance in November, two others later in the winter, one on the 29th of January; and two more,
a pair, were seen by myself and a friend, one of which he shot. We were out for the purpose of procuring
some small birds for a tame Buzzard, when the note of the Richard’s Pipit caught our ears; and I shall
never forget how excited we were on hearing the note for the first time. We could not imagine what it
was, until I suggested that it must be that of the Richard’s Pipit, as it afterwards proved to be. The note is
similar to, but louder than, that of the Pied Wagtail, or something between it and that of the Skylark when
moving from place to place. It seems very partial to fields in which there are cows, and often alighted on their
dung. The stomach of all those I examined contained the remains of numerous small beetles and a few flies.
In its undulating flight, as well as its note, it resembles the Pied Wagtail.”

Mr. Thomas Bodenham informed me that a specimen of this species “ was taken in a net at Shawardine,
a few miles from Shrewsbury, on the 23th of October 1866.” Mr. Rodd states that it is rare in Cornwall :
‘¢several examples were killed some years since in Redinnick fields, Penzance ; but the bird has not since
been observed.” In Norfolk, Mr. Stevenson records four examples as having been obtained on the Denes, in
the months of April and November. I find no mention of its occurrence in Scotland or Ireland ;_ but it doubt-
less pays occasional visits to both those countries. On the Continent no author gives it more than a passing
remark, its occurrence there being as infrequent as with us, in proof of which assertion I may mention
that Nilsson, in his ‘ Scandinavian Fauna,’ states that a specimen taken alive on board a steamer while lying
to in Calmar Sound, during a fog, is the only known Swedish example. It bas, however, been killed in Italy,
Spain, France, and Germany. In India and China it occurs more frequently than in any of the western
countries of Europe; and I suspect that we must there look for its nest and eggs, believing, as I do, that
that portion of the globe is its true home, and England the extreme limit of its range in a western direction.

Mr. Jerdon says, ‘this large Pipit occurs throughout the greater part of India, but is only found during the
cold weather or up to the end of April. It extends from Nepaul and the Himalayas to the extreme south ;