MOTACTLLIN.E. 227 



the penultimate with white only on its terminal half. Sexes alike. 



Bill dusky above, lower mandible whitish ; legs whitish, tinged 

 with purple-brown. Length 65- inches ; extent 10 ; Aving 3§- ; tail 

 2f ; tarsus |; hind claw not ^ inch; bill -^-(j. 



The black-breasted Wagtail is found throughout the whole 

 peninsula of India, and Ceylon, but is common nowhere, and 

 indeed rare in the South of India, in the bare table-land of Central 

 India, and it is not recorded from the N. W. Provinces,* nor the 

 Himalayas. It extends to Arracan, Burmah, Malacca, and some of 

 the Malayan Islands, where it is much more common than in Conti- 

 nental India. I have only procured it myself at Nellore, in my 

 own garden, and on the Malabar Coast. It appears not very un- 

 common about Calcutta, and, according to Blytli, at all seasons. It 

 is quite a wood-loving species, never being found in the open 

 plains, nor, that I have seen, about rivers ; being chiefly found 

 in shady gardens and orchards, and on roads in the forests. It 

 is usually solitary, and feeds on various insects. Layard relates 

 of its habits in Ceylon, that it scratches among the dung of cattle in 

 search of the larvae of insects, and hence it gets its Cinghalese name 

 Gomarita, or dung-spreader. It has no seasonal change of color- 

 ing, and appears to be found here, at all events in the more Northern 

 parts of India, all the year round. 



The next group comprises the Pipits or Titlarks, distinguished 

 by their lark-like plumage and habits, but with a more slender form, 

 and much less breadth of wing. The Pipits are closely connected 

 with the Wagtails in their general structure, elongated tertials, 

 &c., but, in color, are nearer to the Larks, among which 

 some of them have been placed by Swainson and others. They 

 may, indeed, be considered as a link uniting the two tribes of 

 Denfirostres and Conirostres. In habits they are as much like 

 one as the other, frequenting grass meadows, fields, and open 

 sandy plains, but not so familiar in their habits as the Wagtails. 

 A few perch habitually on trees. They rise into the air singing, 

 but do not ascend to any height, or sing nearly so long as the Larks ; 



* I cannot think that i\Ir. Pbilipps has rightly identified this bird, for he states 

 that it frequents open fields in flocks of six or eight. 



