THE WAGTAILS. 93 



I, THE PIED WAGTAIL. MOTACILLA LUGUBRIS. 



Motacilla lugubris, Temm. Man. d'Orn., i., p. 253 (1820); Newt. 



ed. Yarr., i., p. 538 (1874) ; Dresser, B. Eur., iii , p. 239, 



pis. 125, fig. 3, 126, fig. 2 (1875); B. O. U. List Br. B.,p. 



30 (18S3) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., x., p. 460 (1885); 



Saunders, Man., p. 113 (1889); Wyatt, Br. B., pi. 8, fi>. 3 



(1894). 

 Motacilla yarrelli, Macg., Br. B., ii., p. 225 (1839); Seeb., Br. 



B., ii., p. 194 (1884); Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. pt., viii. 



(1888). 

 Adult Male in Summer Plumage. — Black above; throat and fore- 

 neck black ; ear-coverts white ; breast and abdomen as well as 

 under tail-coverts white ; the sides of the body ashy-grey ; 

 median and greater wing-coverts black, externally margined 

 with white ; quills black, edged with grey, the inner secondaries 

 with white; tail-feathers black, the two outer ones white, black 

 at the base and along the edge of the inner web ; bill and feet 

 black; iris dark brown. Total length, 7-3 inches; culmen, 06; 

 wing, 3-55; tail, 37 ; tarsus, 0-95. 



Adult Female. — Like the male, but never so entirely black on 

 the body, the latter being dingy grey, more or less mottled with 

 black feathers. Total length, 6*8 inches ; wing, 3*25. 



Adults in Winter Plumage. — Easily distinguished by the white 

 throat, which is followed by a black band across the fore-neck, 

 extending in a crescent up to the ear-coverts ; the back is grey, 

 with the forehead white, and the hinder crown and nape black. 

 Young Birds have at first the head grey like the back. After 

 the first moult they resemble the winter plumage of the adults, 

 being dull ashy, with a white forehead, and a black patch on 

 the hinder crown, as well as a black patch on the fore-neck. 

 There is almost invariably a tinge of sulphur-yellow pervading 

 the white on the sides of the face and neck. The method by 

 which the black throat is assumed is curious, as it is chiefly 

 acquired by a change in the colour of the feather, rather than 

 by a complete moult. The white feathers of the winter dress 

 become black at their tips, and this black gradually spreads 

 over the whole of the feather, until the entire throat becomes 

 black. We were at one time inclined to believe that there was no 

 spring moult at all, at least, in the old birds, but we have seen 



