EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 261 



the eggs of the White Wagtail from those of the Pied Wagtail ; 

 but generally the latter are not so blue in ground-colour, and no 

 brown type seems to occur at all. 



THE GBEY WAGTAIL 



(MotaciUa sulphured.)* 



Plate 58a, Fig. 1. 



In Scotland the Grey Wagtail is more generally distributed 

 than in England, and, though not found on the Outer Hebrides, it 

 occurs on several of the inner islands, and in Ireland it is widely 

 although locally distributed. The range of the Grey Wagtail 

 extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but does not appear to 

 include either the Scandinavian or Kamtschatkan peninsulas. 



I have almost always found the nest of the Grey Wagtail under 

 an overhanging ledge of rock, built upon the clay or rocky bank, 

 and well concealed behind grass and other herbage. Once only I 

 saw one built in the fork of three stems of an alder, close to the 

 ground, almost overhanging the river. The eggs are laid towards 

 the end of April or early in May. 



The nest is very similar to that of the Pied Wagtail, a trifle 

 smaller inside, and perhaps a little deeper, and even more care- 

 fully made. It is almost entirely composed of fine roots, with a 

 few stalks of dry grass in the outer and coarser portions, and is 

 lined with cow-hair, the preference being given to white. 



The eggs of the Grey Wagtail are five or six in number, 

 generally five, and may be divided into two distinct types— one 

 in which the ground-colour is pale French grey, mottled with 

 light brown, and the other of a much warmer tint, more nearly 

 approaching cream-colour, mottled and spotted with a much 

 richer brown. On many specimens there are one or two rich 

 dark brown, almost black, streaks on the large end. The eggs 

 vary in length from 0-79 to 065 inch, and in breadth from 0'59 

 to 0-54 inch. It is extremely difficult to distinguish the eggs of 

 this bird from those of the Yellow Wagtail or the Blue-headed 

 Wagtail; but those of the Grey Wagtail are, on an average, 

 slightly smaller. 



* MotaciUa melange— Saunders, Manual, p. 117; Sharpe, Handb., I., p. 97. 



