WHITE WAGTAIL. lOI 



by yellow margins. Young birds have no yellow on the fore- 

 head. Length, 7 ins. Wing, 4 ins. Tarsus, -9 in. 



Family MOTACILLID^. Wagtails and Pipits. 

 White Wagtail. Motacilla alba Linn.- 



Difference of opinion exists as to the status of the Pied and 

 White Wagtails ; Lilford, hoping to avoid confusion, called the 

 latter the " Grey-backed Wagtail." Many contend, not without 

 reason, that they are sub-species, and that the White, the 

 bird of Europe generally, is the parent form, the Pied being an 

 insular variety which, in geologically recent times, has extended 

 its range to western France, Belgium and southern Norway. 

 The nuptial dress of the males is sufficiently distinct to warrant 

 specific rank, yet this is of so small importance to the birds 

 themselves that they occasionally interbreed, supporting the 

 sub-specific argument. Because I am adopting the B.O.U. 

 classification, not from conviction, I treat them as species. 



In the British Isles the W^hite Wagtail (Plate 43) is mainly a 

 bird of passage, by far the greater number travelling by the 

 west coast route. It is also an occasional summer visitor, for 

 there are many well-authenticated instances of nesting in 

 England, Wales and Fair Island. On the Continent its range 

 is wide, and it nests regularly at high latitudes ; it is common 

 in Iceland and in some parts of Greenland. It winters in 

 tropical Africa. 



In spring, when the males are easily recognised, it passes 

 through England, but the majority travel along the coast, and 

 as they arrive from mid-March onwards, long before the short 

 northern summer, the journey is slow. In Anglesey a party of 

 about a score arrived on April 14 and frequented an inlet 

 amongst the rocks where drift-weed had accumulated ; early in 

 May fresh arrivals increased the numbers to about sixty, and 



