560 MOTACILLIDiE. 



some of them is simply one of shade. Both the birds last 

 named are perhaps of more limited range than the typical 

 M. flava — though this cannot at present be asserted con- 

 fidently, but towards the north of Europe the breeding 

 grounds of all three converge and almost inosculate. M. 

 flava it is true seems there to be confined to the lower lands 

 of Norway and Sweden, while M. cinereicapilla is the 

 tenant of the subalpine and arctic districts, but Mr. Gould 

 has what is to all appearance M. melanocejJhala, shot by 

 himself on the Dovre Fjeld, and it is possibly this last which 

 is the prevalent phase in Russia and the countries of eastern 

 Europe so far as Dalmatia, only accidentally occurring to the 

 westward, as at Malta, whence Mr. Dresser has received it from 

 Mr. Wright. Both M. cinereicajnlla and M. melanocephala 

 in winter resort to Egypt, where the typical M. flava seems 

 to be less common. This last Canon Tristram on his third 

 expedition obtained in Palestine : it must, however, be deemed 

 questionable whether it goes further eastward, since examples 

 from India, the Malay Archipelago, the Sea of Ochotsk and 

 even Alaska, though almost exactly like specimens from 

 central and western Europe are said to present certain minute 

 differences and are accordingly believed by some ornithologists 

 to be distinct. In this unsatisfactory condition must the sub- 

 ject be left here.* 



The first British specimen of this bird, a fine adult male, 

 was shot at Walton-on-the-Naze, October 3rd, 1834, by Mr. 

 Henry Doubleday, and recorded by him the following year 

 (Mag. Nat. Hist. iii. p. 617). There were two birds together, 

 and his attention was drawn to them by observing a pair so 

 late in the season, and so long after our common Yellow 



collection, Las been figured by Mr. Gould (B. Gr. Br. part xxii.) under the name 

 of "Grey-capped Wagtail" and referred to 31. cinereiccqyilla, from the typical 

 appearance of which it differs by possessing a short white sujierciliary streak 

 behind the ear only. 



* It seems to be certain that the representatives of all these forms, if not the 

 forms themselves, occur in India. Should the European 3f. cinereicapilla be 

 identified with the Indian M. viridis, and the Editor is unable yet to see any 

 difference between them, the latter name, as the oldest, will have to be adopted 

 by those who yet thiid^ that it should be kept distinct from M. flava. 



