184. Female Tawny Pipit Anthus campestris, specimen NHMUK #1881.12.1.259, collected at Gatai, Afghanistan, by Robert Swinhoe on 26th April 1881 and originally labelled as Paddyfield Pipit. This specimen has been widely cited as evidence of Paddyfield Pipit’s occurrence in Afghanistan and was the basis of Whistler’s (1945) assumption that the species was migratory in the country. Swinhoe’s determination of A. rufulus on his collector’s label can be seen to be crossed out in pencil and the bird has been relabelled as a Tawny Pipit. Who did this, when, and based on what information is unknown (A. Bond in litt.), but it occurred before the publication of Sharpe’s catalogue in 1885.
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