MOTACILLID^. 



129 



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THE YELLOW WAGTAIL. 

 MoTACiLLA RAii (Bonapartc). 



The Yellow Wagtail is a regular summer-visitor to the British 

 Islands, arriving early in April, and leaving again in September. In 

 Cornwall and Devon it is chiefly seen on migration, though it nests 

 in the latter ; but from Somersetshire onwards, it is generally 

 distributed throughout England as a breeding-species in wet 

 meadows and other suitable situations. In Wales it is local, and 

 chiefly noticed on migration. In Scotland it has nested as far as 

 Perthshire, and perhaps up to the south-west of the Great Glen, but is 

 rarely found beyond the latter ; while a wanderer has been obtained 

 in North Ronay, Outer Hebrides, and the bird is said to have 

 occurred in the Shetlands. In Ireland it breeds regularly about 

 Lough Neagh, in Ulster, as well as on Loughs Corrib, Mask and 

 Carra, in Connaught ; the nest has also been obtained once near 

 Dublin, where the species occurs on migration, as it has done in 

 CO. Wexford (Ussher). 



Although the Yellow Wagtail has occurred on Heligoland, 

 Borkum, and the coast of Holland, it is only west of Belgium that 

 it is known as a regular visitor, while even in the north of France 

 the Blue-headed Wagtail prevails in the breeding-season as far as 

 Dieppe. Westward our Yellow Wagtail is said to predominate ; 

 and on passage it visits the south of France and both sides of 

 the Iberian Peninsula with great regularity, though only of rare and 



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