SIDE IvlGHTS ON BIRDS 



ago set apart by Gould, and now described as 

 M. alba, is also pied, but the darker plumage of 

 back and wings lacks the clear-cut distinctness 

 of our own magpie-like bird, and merges from the 

 white into an iron-grey. Although the pied 

 wagtail, as we know it, occurs in Norway and 

 Sweden, it may be taken that the white is the 

 form almost universally found on the Continent, 

 and in parts of Norway it is almost impossible to 

 find a house, barn, or saeter which this graceful 

 little bird neglects to frequent. 



On the question as to whether our pied wag- 

 tail should be regarded as specifically distinct 

 from the light-coloured bird, Professor Newton 

 writes in the fourth edition of Yarrell : — 



" The reader may gather that the editor, by 

 his treatment of such cases as are afforded by 

 Parus ater and Acredula caudata, is not prone to 

 raise local races to specific rank on slight grounds, 

 but the present differs from those cases insomuch 

 as specimens intermediate in colouring seem to 

 be wanting, and, though each form not unfre- 

 quently encroaches on the other's borders, and 

 instances of their inter-breeding are said to be 

 known, each very remarkably maintains its proper 

 character." 



On the other hand, although it has been stated 

 that some slight difference has been observed in 

 the note, it cannot be denied that the distinction 

 rests practically on the plumage, and that in their 

 life and habit the two races are identical. They 

 nest in the same kind of place, using a like material, 

 their eggs are indistinguishable, and their move- 

 ments in flight and on foot show no points of 

 difference. 



In the deep, black fjords, which lie between 

 Bergen and the Nordfjord, although bird-life 

 is, of necessity, sparse, many familiar figures may 



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