The Meadow Pipit (_Anthus pratensis_) is the smallest as well as the commonest species to be met with, and is generally dispersed throughout the British Islands, including Orkney and Shetland. It is by no means confined to the plains or open country, but is frequently to be met with on mountain sides, sometimes at a considerable elevation. Tourists and sportsmen must doubtless have remarked this when climbing the Scotch and Irish mountains. The late Mr. Wheelwright, in Lapland, found it “very high up on the fells;” Professor Salvadori remarked it on the Apennines; and Messrs. Elwes and Buckley include it in their list of the birds of Turkey as frequenting the mountains. In summer it is common in Scandinavia, and Mr. Wheelwright found it nesting in Lapland. It goes as far north as the Faroe Isles and Iceland.[38] According to Professor Reinhardt,[39] Dr. Paulsen, in Sleswick, received a single specimen from Greenland in 1845; but he adds that he (Professor R.) never saw it there himself. The Meadow Pipit appears to be generally distributed throughout Europe, and at the approach of winter emigrates in a south-easterly direction by way of Sicily and the Ionian Islands to Palestine. Lord Lilford states that it is very common in Corfu and Epirus in winter.[40] Canon Tristram found it in large flocks throughout the winter in North Africa, “apparently on passage;” and in Southern Palestine and in the Plains of Sharon he remarked that it was very abundant. According to Sir R. Schomburgk, it occurs as far eastward as Siam; but Mr. Blyth considered the Siamese _pratensis_ to be the Red-throated Pipit (_A. cervinus_) in winter plumage. It is known to occur in India, however, as Mr. Hume has procured this species near Ferozpore, North-west India; and Mr. Blyth saw specimens from other parts of the North-west provinces. The range of this bird southwards, that is through Africa, seems to be very limited. According to Mr. Saunders, it is common in Spain in winter, but it is not included in Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake’s list of the birds of Morocco; and though Mr. Salvin shot a specimen at Kef Laks in the Eastern Atlas, it appears to occur in North-west Africa exceptionally. The Pipit of the Canaries, originally regarded as _A. pratensis_, has been described by Dr. Bolle[41] as distinct, under the name of Berthelot’s Pipit (_Anthus Berthelotii_). But Mr. Vernon Harcourt maintains—and so did the late Mr. Yarrell—that Madeiran specimens can in no degree be distinguished from specimens of _A. pratensis_ from other parts. [Illustration: ROCK PIPIT] THE ROCK PIPIT. (_Anthus obscurus._)