BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL. Ill 



The male in nuptial plumage has the crown, nape and ear- 

 coverts bluish slate ; above the eye is a distinct white eye- 

 streak and a less conspicuous whitish streak usually, though 

 not invariably, passes through the ear-coverts, below a dark 

 line through the eye. The back and mantle are olive-green, 

 often with a yellowish tinge, and two yellowish-white bars cross 

 the brown wings. The chin is white, and the under parts 

 bright yellow. The legs and bill are black and the irides 

 brown. The female is slightly bluer on the crown than the 

 normal Yellow, and her chin and eye-stripe are pure white or 

 very faintly tinged with yellow ; the under parts are paler than 

 in the male. In autumn both old and young closely resemble 

 Yellows at the same season, and the difficulty is greater owing 

 to the various stages of the moulting birds, but Dr. N. F. 

 Ticehurst points out that the chin of the Yellow is never really 

 white, whereas in the Blue-headed it has at the most but a 

 slight suspicion of yellow and shades into buff on the throat. 

 Young birds have a dark line or mark on the buff throat, and 

 at times a V-shaped brownish mark from the nape to the 

 breast. As the two species constantly travel together, both in 

 spring and autumn, the difficulties of distinguishing young 

 birds and females are enhanced, but when males or typical 

 females are passing together in spring comparisons are 

 simplified. Length, 6 ins. Wing, 3*2 ins. Tarsus, i in. 



A western Siberian race, Sykes' Wagtail, M.f. beeina (Sykes), 

 in which the head and eye-stripe are pearl-grey and the face 

 white, has been obtained twice — in Sussex and Fair Island. I 

 cannot say that the grey-headed bird I saw in Cheshire in 

 191 5, mentioned as a probable variety of M. raii^ was an 

 example of this form, but its plumage suggested it. 



The Ashy-headed Wagtail, M, f, cine7'eicapilla Savi, a 

 Spanish and southern European race, has been reported from 

 Cornwall and Norfolk, but the latter, after re-examination, has 

 been referred to the Scandinavian and Siberian Grey-headed 



