BLACK-BACKED WAGTAIL 17 



occurrence of the species in North America. John E. Thayer and 

 Outram Bangs (1921) published the record of its capture: 



During the course of the expedition to the Arctic coasts of East Siberia and 

 Northern Alaslia in 1913 and 1914, upon which Messrs. Joseph Dixon and W. 

 Spragne Brooks went as zoological collectors, their power schooner, the "Polar 

 Bear," put into the harbor at Attic Island, the outermost of the Aleutian chain, 

 in early May, 1913. From the deck of the vessel here several black and white 

 Wagtails, recognized as Motacilla lugens Kittlitz, wore seen flitting about the 

 beaches, and on May 4, one adult male was secured. 



This specimen, now No. 21590 collection of John B. Thayer, is the first, we 

 believe to be recorded from North America. 



J. D. D. La Touche (1930) in his handbook of the birds of eastern 

 China gives the range of the black-backed wagtail thus : 



This fine Wagtail summers in "Karatschatka, Commander Is., Kurile Is., 

 Askold Is., Hokkaido and N. Hondo (Awomorl), and on the Aleutian Is. [?1, 

 and its extra-Chinese winter range includes South Japan, the Riu Kiu Is., and 

 Formosa." * * * The Kamtschatkan Wagtail is quite common at Swatow 

 during the winter, but it does not appear to have been noticed by Mell in the 

 interior of Kwangtuug or by Vaughan and Jones on the West River. At Foochow 

 it is common enough on passage and a fair number may be seen there in winter 

 as well. * * * At Chinkiang I saw a good many, but chiefly in spring. At 

 Shaweishan it was observed from the 8th March to the 8th May, and in October. 

 This Wagtail is found on wet fields, marshy ground, and mud-fiats. I never saw 

 it in the valley of the Min above Foochow, nor in the mountains. 



Sten Bergman (1935) gives the following account (freely trans- 

 lated from the German) of the black-backed wagtail in Kamchatka 

 and the Kurile Islands : 



The form of white wagtail that breeds in Kamchatka is Mofacilla alba lugens. 

 It is very common inland as well as on the seacoast, but commoner on the latter. 

 I met it in all parts of the peninsula that I visited during the summer. The first 

 acquaintance that I made with it was on Cape Lopatka, where our ship had a 

 mishap. Here it was everywhere on the seashore, espt^cially on the eastern side, 

 on the rocky shores, where the white wings of the birds contra.sted with the 

 dark stones. On the coast of the Pacific Ocean I found it breeding in all the 

 creeks near my camp between Cape Lopatka and Petropawlowsk. Farther 

 north on the same coast Malaise found the black-backed wagtail bi-eeding at 

 Cape Olga, and I found it myself at Ust Kamchatsk. On the Okhotsk Sea I 

 found it in family parties from Cape Lopatka to Bolsheretsk between August 

 20 and September 2. Malaise found it in the fall of 1921 on Kronoki Lake. 

 In the dry woods the black-backed wagtail is naturally absent. It needs water 

 in order to prosper, and I have never seen one on Kamchatka far from a stream 

 or lake. Its call seems to me identical to that of the white wagtail. Next to 

 the lark, it is the earliest of the small migrants to arrive in Kamchatka. In 

 1921 I saw the lirst example in Petropawlowsk on April 22, but sometimes 

 they come even earlier. They generally leave the country at the end of Sep- 

 tember, but some remain even longer, and I saw a wagtail in Petropawlowsk on 

 October 22. 



Motacilla alba lugens builds its nest in many different kinds of places. The 

 normal one is on the shore of the sea or a river, on the ground, not far from 

 water, but the wagtail is also fond of human society and sometimes builds its 



