BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 3 



except oil upper portion; tail nearly as long as wing, sometimes 

 longer;" the rectrices narrow and tapering terminally, but with 

 rounded tips; coloration black, gray, and white, or if with yellow 

 on under parts the throat and chest partly black and the l)ack and 

 pileum gra}'.'' 



N'tdificatlon. — Nest usually on ground, sometimes in holes among 

 rocks or buildings, open above, bulky, composed of dried grasses, 

 leaves, moss, etc., lined with wool, hair, or feathers; eggs with whitish, 

 pale bluish, or brownish ground color, profusely speckled. 



Range. — Pala?arctic, Indo-Malayan, and Ethiopian regions, most 

 developed in eastern portion of the lirst named; two Pahearctic species 

 accidental or occasional in Greenland and Alaska, respectively (the 

 latter once taken in Lower California). 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF MOTAC'ILLA. 



a. Under tail-coverts wliite; upi)er tail-coverts black or dusky gray. 



h. No black or dusky postocular streak, the sides of head entirely white; greater 

 wing-coverts with only their tip white, forming a narrow band. (Europe, 

 northern Africa, and greater part of Asia; accidental in (Jreenland.) 



Motacilla alba (p. 4) 

 hh. A black or dusky postocular streak; greater wing-coverts with outer webs 

 white, or broadly edged with white, forming a large patch. 

 c. Black gray. 



d. Exposed culmen 12-13 mm. (P^astern Asia; occasional in Alaska and acci- 

 dental in Lower California.) Motacilla ocularis (p. 6) 



dd. Exposed culmen 18-14 mm. (Eastern Asia.) 



Motacilla lugens, winter ])hniiages (extralimital) '' 



ex. Back black Motacilla lugens, suunner adults. 



(la. Under tail-coverts yellow; upper tail-coverts olive-yellow or yellowish olive- 

 green. ( Europe and Asia. ) Motacilla melanope (extralimital ) <f 



«Much longer iti M. longicauda. 



''The species of Motacilla having yellow under parts may at once be distinguished 

 from the somewhat similarly colored species of BudyteK by their short and strongly 

 arched, instead of long and slightly arched, hind claw; furthermore, all the species 

 of Budytcs either have the Imck olive-green or else, if black or gray, the whole head 

 is yellow, and none of the species have black on the throat or chest. 



'' Motnrilla lutjenx "Palla.«" Kittlitz, Kupf. Vog., 1832, 16, pi. 21, fig. 1; .Stejneger, 

 Bull. U. S. Xat. Mus., no. 29, 1885, 287 (synonymy, crit., descriptions, etc.); Sharpe, 

 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., x, 1885, 474, pi. 4, figs. 1—1. — MoiaciUa hucoptera " Brehm" 

 Zander, Naumannia, iv, 1851, 14. — Motacilla oculari.s, part, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 Lond., 1863, 275. — Motacilla. anmreitsls Seebohm, Ibis, 1878, 345, pi. 9. — Motacilla 

 knmLvhatica Stejneger, Naturen, 1882, 182; 1884, 5; Proc. U. S. Xat. ^lus., v. 1883, 

 7 \ .—Motacilla. blahistoni Seebohm, Ibis, 1883, 91; 1884, 38. 



This handsome species, which lireeds in Kamchatka (including the Cnnimander 

 islands) very likely occasionally straggles to Alaska. 



''Motacilla iiit'lanopr Pallas, Keis. Kuss. Reichs, iii, 1776, 696; Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 

 i, 1788, 997; Dresser, Birds Europe, iii, 1875, 251, pi. 128. 



