been in my hand. I replaced the eggs without disturbing the nest, and, carefully marking the spot, we
retired. In half an hour or so we returned, going softly to the place, and Mr. Simpson, reaching his arm over
the protecting hassock of grass, dexterously secured the bird in bis hand as she was taking flight. I then
a t once knew, from her pale fawn-coloured throat, that the nest we had found belonged to a species which, up
to that time, I believed had been known in Europe only as an accidental visitant—the Motacilla cervina of
Pallas, the Anthus rufogularis of Brehm.
“ In a week’s time we were quartered at Nyborg, a small settlement at the head o f the Waranger Fjord.
Here willows and birches grew with far greater luxuriance, even a t the water’s edge, than lower down the
inlet. Some even attained to nearly twice the height of a man, and formed thickets which, the intervening
spaces being exceedingly hoggy, were not easily explored. In this secluded spot we found our red-throated
friend not unplentiful. We could scarcely go out of the house without seeing one ; and in the immediate
neighbourhood we procured several more identified nests, making a total of five, and a fine series of nine
birds, all of course in their breeding-plumage. We bad also abundant opportunities of watching their habits,
and, above all, of contrasting them with those of the Titlark {A . pratensis'), which was not uncommon in the
district, and to which this species has been so unjustly annexed as a variety. The two birds had, according
to our observation, an entirely different range, A.pratensis haunting a station less wooded (saving the expression)
than that of A . cervinus, which latter we found at times feeding on the sea-sliore, a habit we did not
notice the former to indulge in. No one with ears, either, could for a moment be in doubt about their respective
notes. It is true that the full song of A . cervinus did not differ so strikingly from the more feeble
performance o f A . pratensis as does, for instance, the joyous hurst of A . arborens ; but it had an unmistakable
resemblance to the louder and perhaps harsher strains of A . obscurus, and in all cases was sufficiently characteristic
for one to be quite certain as to the nature of the performer, even when the individual was not in
sight. In a word, none of our party had any hesitation as to regarding A . cervinus as a perfectly good species.
“ A young bird was obtained at Mortensnses, between Wadso and Nyborg, on the 16th of July 5 and as it
was attended by its parents (both of which were well seen by Mr. Wolley and myself), it could only have
ju st left the n e s t; it appeared to. differ from the young of the Titlark merely in being o f a ruddier complexion.
. . . I have already mentioned what, the eggs looked lik e ; and it would be difficult, in words, to
convey a better idea of them. All the nests I saw were simply built of dry bents, without any lining of feathers
or hair.
“ I may, however, add that it was only in this restricted locality, in East Finmark—^between Wadso and
Nyborg—that we saw this bird, and I believe Mr. Wolley never met with it elsewhere. . . . At Stockholm, I
saw, in the possession of Conservator Meves, the ingenious discoverer of the cause o f the bleating noise made
by the Common Snipe, a living Red-throated Pipit, which had been taken in a garden near that town, where,
I believe, it not unfrequently occurs in its autumnal migration.”
Middendorff, who considers A . rufogularis and A . cermnus to be identical, says of the latter, “ This bird
was found in both north and south Siberia. I shot a female in the Stanowoj mountaius, on the 26th of May,
consequently not on the passage. The rust-yellow of the Siberian specimen has a somewhat violet tint, very
similar to the colour on the breast o f the Turtle Dove; it covers the cheeks near the eyes, the breast,
flanks, neck, and upper part of the breast. I t is only found in this plumage from May to July.”
The Rev. H. B. Tristram obtained a single specimen only on the coast; o f the plain of Sharon in winter
:—that is, in the month o f February.
Mr. Swinhoe states that it is “ a winter bird in South China and Formosa, which passes the summer in
Kamtschatka and the northern regions. Flocks pass over Amoy as late as the first week in May. Before
leaving China the bird undergoes an entire moult, when the eyebrows, throat, and breast show a pale
vinaceous mixed with more or less ochreous, but unspotted, As the nuptial season comes on, the silvery
tinge intensifies into a uniform dusky vinaceous, which encroaches further on the lower parts. I have a fine
series, showing every gradation between the pale-spotted winter and the fine nuptial dress.”
The male has the head, neck, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts olive, with a broad stripe of dark brown
flown the centre of each feather, even on those of the rump ; wing-coverts dark brown, tipped with creamy
white; primaries brown, with paler edges; tertiaries very dark brown, bordered with light greyish brown ;
tail brown, the two centre feathers edged with tawny, and the, outer one white, with a streak of brown down
the margin of the inner web ; the next with a triangular spot of white a t the t ip ; throat, cheeks, and breast
rufous, with a gorget formed by longitudinal streaks of brown across the la tte r ; abdomen and under tail-
coverts pale fawn-colour, streaked on the flanks with dark brown.
In the female the rufous colouring is confined to the throat and cheeks, and the breast is more thickly
streaked with dark brown ; in other respects the plumage resembles that o f the male.
The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Primula Sco.tica.