Breeding Ecology of the Water Pipit

TaE Water Pipit (Antbus spinoletta) is a holarctic bird breeding in alpine and arctic habitats.Probably because of its remote distribution, little information on the species is available.In North America, Johnson (1933) reports observations on one nest of A. s. rubescens in Labrador.Pickwell (1947) gives details on adult behavior and on three nests of what was probably A. s. pacificus on Mt.Rainier, Washington.Sutton and Parmelee (1954) give data on 14 nests and discuss survival problems on Baffin Island.Irving (1960a) discusses nutritional conditions of pipits arriving on their Alaska breeding grounds.Drury (1961) reports on one nest from Bylot Island, Northwest Territories and discusses ecological relationships between the pipit, Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris), Lapland Longspur ( Calcarius lapponicus ) , and Snow Bunting ( Plectrophenax nivalis ) .In Europe, Gibb (1956) studied food and ecology of A. s. petrosus along the coast of Cornwall, England, and Ringleben (1957) deals with migration and habitat preference of A. s. spinoletta in Lower Saxony, Germany.This paper deals with A. s. alticola.The study was conducted from 14 June to 21 September 1963 and from 12 June to 20 August 1964.The objectives were to obtain details on the species' breeding biology and its July 1970] Water PipitTABLE 1 MEAN TEi'vIPERATIJRE AND TOTAL PRECIPITATION ON Tile STUDY AREA 427 Max.temperature Min.temperature Precipitation (øC) (øC) (mm) Standard Standard shelter Ground shelter Ground