1 92 MOTACILLID^ ANTHINiE ANTHUS 



are two groups in tbe family, commonly admitted as sub- 

 families. In one of these, the MotacilUncv, or typical Wagtails, 

 the tail is lengthened to equal or exceed the wing, and formed 

 of narrow feathers gradually tapering to their rounded ends ; 

 only three primaries usually enter into the point of the wing; 



the tarsi are longer and slenderer; 

 the lateral toes are shorter; and the 

 system of coloration for the most 

 l^art has what a painter would call 

 "breadth", the colors being massed 

 in large areas. The hind claw in 

 Motacilla is of ordinary characters : 



Fig. 26.— Head and foot of Yellow "^ ' 



Wagtail. but in Budytes, the next most prom- 



inent genus, it is lengthened and straightened. The Mota- 

 cillincv are only represented in the western hemisphere by the 

 BlotacUla alba, or common White Wagtail of Europe, which 

 has occasionally been foucd in Greenland, and by the Yellow 

 Wagtail, Bndytes flava, an ubiquitous species of the Old World 

 lately ascertained to occur abundantly in Alaska. The cut of 

 this sptcies (tig. 20) will illustrate some motacilline features. 

 The other group is the 



Subfamily ANTHIN^ : Pipits, or Titlaeks 



In these, the tail is shorter than the wings, and composed of 

 broader feathers retaining their width to near the end; four or 

 five primaries usually form the point of the wing ; the tarsi are 

 relatively shorter, usually about equal to the middle toe; the 

 lateral toes are longer, the points of their claws reaching 

 beyond the base of the middle claw ; the hind claw is always 

 lengtliened and straightened (as in the figure beyond given 

 under head of Anthus ludovicianits) ; and the coloration is "nig- 

 gled", that is to say, broken up in streaks and spots. The 

 species of Anthinai make up nearly or about half the family ; 

 they are chiefly referable to the 



Genus ANTHUS Bechstein 



This has been split by modern systematists into a good many 

 genera, which, however, are scarcely worth retaining except 

 as sections. Neocorys, Pediocorys, and Hoiiocorys are the Ameri- 

 can subdivisions, the last two belonging to South America, the 



