In the fall of the year it descends to the warmer valleys and frequents the margins of the rivers, whence it has derived the name of Water Pipit, making its way gradually southward as winter approaches. Mr. Saunders has met with it at Malaga in winter; but apparently it is not common in Spain, and, according to the Rev. A. C. Smith (“Sketch of the Birds of Portugal”) still less so in Portugal. Mr. Wright has met with it once in Malta, having shot a specimen there in November, 1860. It crosses the Mediterranean to North Africa. Canon Tristram met with it in Algeria, and Captain Shelley recognised it in Egypt. In the peninsula of Sinai it was found by Mr. C. W. Wyatt, frequenting the sides of the salt-ponds near Tor, and it is included in Mr. Strickland’s list of the birds of Asia Minor (“P. Z. S.,” 1836, p. 97) as being found on the coast in winter at Smyrna, whence it penetrates to Palestine (Tristram, “Ibis,” 1866, p. 289). Messrs. Elwes and Buckley have enumerated this amongst other species in their list of the birds of Turkey, and Ménétries states (“Cat. Rais. Caucas.,” p. 39) that it is common on the shores of the Caspian in April, May, and June. The range of this bird eastward is at present hardly determined; partly, perhaps, because the Pipits have been a good deal neglected for the sake of more attractive species, and partly on account of the difficulty which travellers usually experience in the identification of this difficult group of birds. That the Water Pipit penetrates to north-west India is to be inferred from the fact that Mr. Hume sent M. Jules Verreaux a specimen for identification from the Punjab west of the Sutlej. [Illustration: RICHARD’S PIPIT] RICHARD’S PIPIT. (_Anthus Richardi._) Out of compliment to the zealous amateur who first made known an example captured in autumn in Lorraine, the name of Richard’s Pipit has been bestowed on this bird, which is becoming better known to ornithologists in this country every year. Its superior size, stouter bill, greater length of leg, and longer hind claw, at once serve to distinguish it from the commoner species. As compared with the Rock Pipit, the largest of those with which we are most familiar, its dimensions are as follows: Bill. Wing. Tarsus. Hind toe Inches. Inches. Inches. with claw. Inches. _A. obscurus_ ·5 3·2 0·9 0·8 _A. Richardi_ ·6 3·6 1·2 1·2