248 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The mountain wagtail is the African counterpart of the gray wag- 

 tail of Europe {M. cinerea) and is its ecological representative in 

 the former continent. It ranges from Ethiopia and Liberia south to 

 the Cape Province, but seems to be abundant nowhere, its status 

 being that of a widespread, but local, species. It does not appear 

 to vary geographically, and consequently it has not been divided into 

 racial forms. 



One reason for its absence in many localities within its range is 

 the fact that it is altitudinally somewhat restricted, the limits being 

 approximately from 5,000 to 9,000 feet, except in extreme southern 

 Africa, where the increase in latitude counteracts a decrease in alti- 

 tude. In Zululand, for example, the species occurs even at altitudes 

 under 2,500 feet. 



The four males have wing lengths of from 82 to 88 mm; the 

 female, 80 mm. Granvik ^^ records wing lengths of 78 and 80 mm 

 for the males and 77 and 78 mm for females. 



The December and January birds are in molt; the March speci- 

 mens are in fresh plumage. The birds taken at Aletta on March 7 

 were a mated pair, according to the collector's notes. 



Granvik found a nest on Mount Elgon on June 6. It was built in 

 a little hut and was placed on a beam a couple of meters from the 

 ground and resembled the nest of the white wagtail, M. oZba. Inci- 

 dentally, Granvik misquotes Neumann ''* as to the altitudinal range 

 of this bird. The figures are meters, not feet. 



MOTACILLA CINEREA CINEREA Tunstall 



Motacilla cinerea Tunbtall, Ornithologia Britannica, p. 2, 1771: Great Britain, 



ex Pennant. 

 Specimens cotxbcted: 



1 unsexed, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia, January 1, 1912. 



2 males, 1 female, Arussi Plateau, 9,000-10,000 feet, Ethiopia, February 

 21-29, 1912. 



1 female, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, March 30, 1912. 



One of the males from the Arussi is in summer plumage and has 

 the throat mottled blackish and white; the other specimens are still 

 with the pure white throats of the winter dress. 



The typical race of the gray wagtail winters in Africa south to 

 Gambia, the eastern Congo, and the Kavirondo district of south- 

 western Kenya Colony. In northeastern Africa it appears to be 

 largely, though not entirely, restricted to the drainage basin of the 

 Nile and its Abyssinian tributaries, and to be wholly lacking east of 

 Shoa in Ethiopia, and likewise absent from the Galla-Somali coun- 

 tries and from northeastern Kenya Colony. It does, however, occur 



■'sjourn. fur Orn., 1928, Sonderbeft, p. 196. 

 « Journ. fur Orn., 1906, p. 230. 



