MOTACILLID.'E. 



125 



THE GREY WAGTAIL. 



MOTACILLA MELANOPE, PallaS. 



This beautiful species, easily recognizable by the yellow tints of 

 its under parts and its exceptionally long tail, is resident, or partially 

 migratory, throughout those portions of the British Islands where 

 streams are found in the vicinity of mountains, or even hills ; 

 but to the flat country and the sea-coast it is chiefly a visitor on 

 migration and in winter. It breeds regularly in Cornwall, Devon, 

 Somerset, Dorset and Wilts ; and sparingly in Hampshire, Surrey, 

 Sussex, Kent, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Leicestershire and 

 Lincolnshire. In Wales and the Marches, as well as on both sides of 

 the Pennine range, it is common, increasing in numbers to the north- 

 ward. In Scotland it is generally distributed, although not very 

 abundant in Sutherland and Caithness ; it nests in small numbers in 

 Skye, and occasionally visits the Outer Hebrides, Orkneys and 

 Shetlands. It breeds throughout Ireland, where it is a familiar 

 species. 



On the Continent the Grey Wagtail barely reaches the extreme 

 south of Sweden, and is very rare in Northern Germany, while in 

 Russia it is hardly found beyond the latitude of Moscow ; but in 

 the mountainous and even rolling ground of the central and 

 southern parts of Europe it is fairly common ; breeding down to 

 the basin of the Mediterranean, where it is a resident, as it is 

 also in the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores. Eastward, it is 



