250 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



BUDYTES FELDEGG FELDEGG (Michahelles) 



MotaclUa feldegg Michahelles, Isis, 1830, p. 812: Spalalo, Dalniatia. 

 Specimens collected: 1 male, mouth of Sigale River, Black Lake Abaya, 

 Ethiopia, March 24, 1912. 



Soft parts: Iris dark brown; bill black, plumbeous at base of 

 mandible; feet and claws black. 



The black-headed wagtail is a common and widespread winter 

 visitor in Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Sudan (west through Darfur), 

 Uganda, Kenya Colony, Somaliland, and southern Arabia. 



Blanford ^^ found this wagtail "common everywhere during the 

 winter, and I suspect many remain and breed on the highlands of 

 Abyssinia, for birds of this species were still abundant around Lake 

 Ashangi at the beginning of May, although they had then assumed 

 the nuptial plumage more than a month.*' 



Zedlitz ^® found it only on the inland plateau, not in the low coastal 

 plain, and did not see it after the last of March. He found it around 

 the streams and river banks, a fact that may explain its absence in 

 the arid, coastal Somali area. 



Blanford's supposition as to the breeding of this bird in Ethiopia 

 has not been confirmed or in any way supported by more recent 

 observations. 



Meinertzhagen ^° records it as a "common winter visitor to the 

 Sudan and Abyssinia from December to May. Fairly common in 

 Kenya Colony and Uganda in winter, especially on the Victoria 

 Nyanza from January to early April." 



The single specimen collected is in full, fresh plumage. 



This specimen has a few small whitish-yellow feathers hidden 

 among the black ones over the eyes but not enough to constitute even 

 an indistinct superciliary stripe. It therefore can not be considered 

 as B. feldegg supei^ciUaris of Brehm. Domaniewski *^ has delved 

 into the forms of the black-headed wagtail, which he considers is 

 specifically distinct from B. flavus (in spite of what Hartert and 

 others have concluded), and I follow him in considering the present 

 bird typical feldegg. I have not seen enough material of kalenic- 

 zensMi to judge its validity. 



Sushkin ^- apparently inclined to the opinion that feldegg was more 

 than subspecifically distinct from flavus, as he limited himself to the 

 gray-headed forms only, although not committing himself definitely, 

 on this point. 



™ Idem. 



'»Journ. fiir Orn., 1911, p. 45. 



wibis, 1921, pp. 667-668. 



»i Ann. ZooL Mus. Polon., vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 103-107, 1925. 



•2 Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 38. p. 30. 1925. 



