1. MOTACILLA. 46i 



Even in the nest there seems to be a certain difference in the 

 sexes, for some, probablj- males, have the black throat-patch much 

 more pronounced than others. 



Young in first plumage. DuU ashy grey above, with the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts black ; least wing-coverts ashy like the back ; 

 median and greater coverts blackish, extemaUy edged with ashy 

 and tipped with white, forming two wing-bars ; bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts, and cjuills blackish, externally edged with ashy, 

 the secondaries browner and rather broadly edged with white ; 

 tail-feathers black, the two outer ones almost entirely white, 

 excepting for a line of black along the inner web of the outermost ; 

 the penultimate feather with a little more black on it, in the shape 

 of a narrow line along both the inner and the outer webs ; head like 

 the back, the lores blackish, and a narrow line of black above the 

 eye : eyelid and a small patch behind the eye white ; sides of face 

 and ear-coverts dull whitish, with dusky bases ; cheeks and throat 

 white, succeeded by a black patch on the fore neck, extending up 

 the sides of the throat ; centre of breast, abdomen, and under tail- 

 coverts white, the top of the breast and the sides of the body light 

 ashy grey ; thighs black, edged with white ; axOlaries and under 

 wing-coverts white, with ashy bases, those near the edge of the 

 wing mottled with dusky bases ; quills dusky below, whitish along 

 the edge of the inner web. 



The young birds remain in their grey plumage till the late autumn, 

 and then they moult into their first winter dress. The coverts are 

 entux'ly moulted and, I believe, the quiUs also ; but of this I am not 

 quite certain, for a female shot at Axmouth in April appears to me 

 to be putting on new quills. 



The young birds get their first full plumage in the following 

 spring with a moult. The old birds, however, do not moult in the 

 spring, but the black gradually spreads over the grey feathers of the 

 back, and the black throat is also gradually assumed without the 

 loss of a feather. On the dorsal plumes the black appears to 

 spread from the base upwards, but on the throat it begins at the tip 

 and spreads downwards to the base. Many young birds commence 

 to show traces of the black plumage on the back in the early winter ; 

 these I take to be the young of the first brood, which attain their 

 winter dress earlier than those of the second brood, which are 

 often found in their grey dress far into September. In November 

 the signs of the approaching black throat are also often to be 

 noticed. 



Young in first ivinter dress. General colour above clear ashy grey, 

 blacker on the lower rump and upper tail-coverts, the lateral ones of 

 which are externally white ; lesser wing-coverts like the back ; 

 median and greater series black, externally washed with brownish 

 ashy, the tips ashy white ; bastard-wing feathers, primary-coverts, 

 and quills black, externally edged with ashy, the secondaries with 

 brownish ashy, whitish towards the ends of the outer web in the 

 long inner secondaries, the innermost of the latter conspicuously 

 brownish along the outer web ; tail-feathers black, the central pair 



