Our Summer Migrants: An Account of the Migratory Birds Which Pass the Summer in the British Islands.Harting, James Edmund
Science
Our Summer Migrants: An Account of the Migratory Birds Which Pass the Summer in the British Islands.
Harting, James Edmund
Birds -- Great Britain
Its occurrence in England has been noted, as might be expected, chiefly
on the east and south coasts, in every month between September and
April, both inclusive. At least fifty specimens have been seen or
procured, distributed as follows: Northumberland, 2; Norfolk, 5;
Shropshire, 1; Oxford, 1; Middlesex, 12; Kent, 3; Sussex, 5; Devonshire,
11; Cornwall and Scilly, 8. In the west of England, therefore, it would
appear to be very rare, and in Ireland it is unknown.
The most northern locality, I believe, whence this species has been
procured, is Heligoland, on which island, according to Professor
Blasius, it is said to have been obtained by Herr Gätke.[47]
When staying at Antwerp in May, 1870, I saw three or four specimens
which had been taken in that neighbourhood, but the owner of them
considered the bird a rarity there. Mr. Howard Saunders obtained a
couple near Malaga in the month of February, and learnt that in some
winters it is not uncommon in southern Spain (“Ibis,” 1870, p. 216).
Signor Bettoni, in his grand work on the birds which breed in Lombardy,
mentions Richard’s Pipit as one of the characteristic species of the
Lombard plains. “Nevertheless,” says Mr. Saunders (“Ibis,” 1869, p.
392), “he must not be understood to mean that it is in any way abundant,
or even constant in that province; for the Count Turati assured me that
it has never been discovered breeding there, and that, judging from the
number of specimens enumerated as obtained in England, it is more common
with us than with them. That its appearance is confined to the plains of
Lombardy is probably the author’s meaning.” In Malta it is only found
accidentally in spring and autumn, and Mr. Wright, who has paid so much
attention to the ornithology of that island, has only been able to
mention three examples as having come under his own notice.
It is rather singular that this bird should not cross the Mediterranean,
and be found with other European Pipits during the winter months in
North Africa. Nevertheless, I have not been able to find any mention of
it in any of the North African lists which I have consulted, neither is
it included in the late Mr. Strickland’s List of the Birds found in Asia
Minor in winter (“P. Z. S.,” 1836, p. 97).
It is much commoner, however, in Asia than in Europe. Mr. Hodgson found
it in Nepal,[48] and Mr. Hume says it breeds in Ladakh; Mr. Blyth has
recorded its occurrence in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, and Mr.
Blanford met with it in the Irawadi Valley. It is included by Sir R.
Schomburgk in his List of the Birds of Siam (“Ibis,” 1864, p. 249), and,
according to Mr. Swinhoe, is common in North China (Takoo and Peking) in
September, and in Amoy, Formosa, and Hainan in winter.
THE TAWNY PIPIT.
(_Anthus campestris._)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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