MOTACILLA. 



287 



d'. Tarsus considerably longer than one inch. 



y". Back always ashy grey M. citreola, p. 298. 



h". Back either black or with some black or 



dusky feathers M. citreoloides, p. 290. 



826. Motacilla alba. The White Wagtail. 



Motacilla alba, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 331 (1766) ; Hume, Cat. no. 591 

 ter ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 314 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 156 ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. M. x, p. 4G4. 

 Motacilla dukhunensis, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 91 ; Blyth, Cat. 

 p. 137; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 349; Brooks, S. F. ii, p." 457, vii, 

 p. 137 ; Hume, Cat. no. 591 bis ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 236. 

 Dhobin, Hind. 



Figs. 77, 78, 79.— Wing, foot, and head of M. alba. 



Coloration. In normal full summer plumage, the forehead, an- 

 terior portion of crown, sides of the head and of the neck are pure 

 white ; remaiuder of crown, nape, and hind neck, chin, throat, fore 

 neck, and breast deep black ; upper plumage, scapulars, and lesser 

 wing-coverts grey ; upper tail-coverts more or less black, margined 

 exteriorly with white ; wing-coverts and tertiaries blackish, broadly 

 margined with white ; primaries and secondaries black, narrowly 

 margined with whitish ; the four middle pairs of tail-feathers 

 black, the others nearly entirely white ; lower plumage from the 

 breast downwards pure white. 



In normal winter plumage the chin, throat, and fore neck 

 become white, and the black on the breast is reduced to a narrow 

 crescentic patch, sometimes extending narrowly up the sides of the 

 fore neck. 



The nestling is uniform greenish ashy above, and the lower 



