1. MOTACILLA. 485 



feathers black, -witli obsolete white margins, tbe two outer ones 

 white, with black edges to the inner web ; lores, feathers round the 

 eye, ear-coverts, and a broad streak above them on the sides of the 

 crown pure white like the frontal band ; sides of neck and throat 

 pure white ; entire fore neck and lower throat black, and the re- 

 mainder of the throat with some black feathers ; remainder of under 

 surface of body pure white, as well as the under tail-coverts ; thighs 

 white, with black bases : flanks and sides of the body washed with 

 dark ashy grey ; under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white ; 

 quills below blackish, with a great deal of white on the inner 

 webs. Total length 6-8 inches, culmen 0-65, wing 3-45, tail 3'4, 

 tarsus 0'9. 



This specimen was selected for description, as I thought, from 

 the date (July), that it might be a female in full breeding- 

 plumage, from which the male woidd differ only in the greater ex- 

 tent of black on the throat ; as wiU be seen, this specimen has only 

 the lower throat and fore neck black. As, however, the primarv 

 quills are being moulted, I now believe that the specimen is an adult 

 bird, beginning even in July to put on the winter dress ; and this 

 seems to show that the changes take place with M. Uucopsis at a 

 considerably earlier date than in our European Wagtails — as, indeed, 

 might be inferred from the fact of full-grown vouug birds being 

 obtained in April, though Mr. Gates states that the species does not 

 leave Burmah till the latter mouth. He observes that the majority 

 of birds obtained in the latter country are " in winter plumage, 

 though occasionally even in January and February a fully summer- 

 plumaged bird is seen." 



From an examination of the series in our Museum along with 

 those in Mr. Seebohm's collection, I believe that the old birds, having 

 once obtained their blade hack, never lose it again in the luinter. 



"With regard to the varying extent of black on the throat, I con- 

 sider this to be a sign of age, the older birds in their breeding- 

 plumage sometimes having the black extending right up to the chin. 

 This is accompanied by a vast increase of white on the quills, the 

 secondaries having their basal portion white, though never to the 

 extent of M. anmrensis. In this stage it is ^1/. feli.v var. szechuensis 

 of Swinhoe ; and it is a little surprising that the latter ornithologist 

 should have made so many different species or varieties, when the 

 series in his own collection fully proved that the diflerences could 

 be explained by the gradual changes of plumage undergone by the 

 bird. 



Ilab. From Eastern Siberia to China generally and the Hima- 

 layas ; wintering in Southern China, the Burmese countries, and the 

 plains of Eastern India, as well as the Andaman Islands. 



a. cJ ad. ffistiv. sk. Ussm-i District, June 13, E. B. Shai-pe, Esq. [P.], 



1881 (S. Doerries). 



h. Ad.; c. .Tuv.sk. Amoy {Swinhoe). Salvin-Godman Coll. 



d,e,f,<i. Ad.; h. Amoj {Swinhoe). Gould Collection. 



Juv. sk. 



i. Juv. sk. Chusan. Gould Collection. 



