MOTACIILA. 



299 



838. Motacilla citreoloides. Hodgson s Yellow-headed Wagtail. 



Budytes citreoloides, Hodgs., Gould, Birds As. iv, pi. 64 (1865) ; 



Hume \ Henders. Lah. to Tarh. p. 224. 

 Budytes citreola {Pall,), Horsf. 8f M. Cat. i, p. 3o2 (pt.) ; Jerd. B. 



I. ii, p. 225. 

 Budytes calcaratus {Hodgs.), Brooks, J. A. S. B. xh, pt. n, p. 82 ; 



Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt, ii, p, 244 ; Hume, N. $ K p. 882 ; 



^«<fc/-«. Fwnnaw .Ezped., 4bc«, p. 609 ; Hume, Cat. no. 594 ; Lid- 



dulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 69 ; Scwfly, 2Mb, 1881, p. 452 ; Oates, B. B. i, 



p. 163 ; Barnes. Birds Bom. p. 240. 

 Motacilla citreoloides {Hodgs.), Sharpe, Cat, B. M. x, p. 507 ; Oates 



in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 208. 

 The Yellow-headed Wagtail, J erd. ; Pani-ha-pilkga, Hind. 



Coloration. Kesembles M. citreola, but in summer has the entire 

 back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts deep black. In the 

 winter months the two species are very close to each other, but 

 31. citreoloides has generally a few black or dusky feathers on the 

 upper plumage, by which it may be infallibly recognized. It is 

 pretty certain that the two sexes of this species are alike in 

 plumage, but reliably sexed females are very scarce in collections. 



The°young do not appear to differ in any respect from those of 

 M. citreola. 



The dimensions and colours of the soft parts are the same as in 



YL. citreola. 



This species and the preceding cannot always be separated trom 

 each other, but they can always, even in their youngest stage, be 

 separated from the other yellow Wagtails by the greater length 

 of the tarsus. . 



Both this species and M. citreola occur in .Nepal and Hodgson 

 procured a large series of the two. It is not clear to me to which 

 species he assigned the names of calcaratus and citreoloides, but 

 Gould identified the latter name with the present species and 

 figured the bird. It is therefore convenient to discard calcaratus 

 altogether as being unnecessary and adopt citreoloides of Hodgson, 

 apud ' Gould, Birds of Asia.' 



Distribution. A winter visitor to the southern slopes ot the 

 Himalayas from Kashmir to Assam, extending on the west to Af- 

 ghanistan. This species also visits the plains of India, and I have 

 examined specimens procured at Sambhar, Etawah, and Calcutta, 

 but from no point further south. Stoliczka, however, records it 

 from Cutch, and Dr. Fairbank from Khandala. On the east its 

 range extends from Assam down to Northern Tenassernn and Pegu. 

 A few birds of this species apparently breed in Kashmir, but the 

 maiority retire to Central Asia. _ . 



Habits, cj-c. Little is known of the nidification of this Wagtail. 

 Theobald found the nest in Kashmir in May, in a depression m 

 soft earth beneath a rock, with four eggs, which were pale grey 

 marked with greyish brown and greyish neutral tint, and measured 

 about -95 by "7. 



