12 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



Motacilla alba, Linn. White Wagtail. 



Native names: 'Marialla/ *Mariu-erla,' ' Mariur-tit- 

 lingur,' sometimes, erroneously, ' gra-titlingur,' a 

 name which belongs to the Meadow Pipit. The 

 prefix to the first three names appears to be a 

 Christian apology to the Virgin Mary. I gather 

 from Grondal that there is reason to suppose that 

 in pre-Christian days this bird was called ' Friggjar 

 ellda ' (? erla) = the ' erle ' of Frigga. 



A common summer visitor, arriving in April and 

 leaving in September ; flocking, preparatory to its 

 departure, in August. I have found fresh eggs on 

 June 1 3, young birds out of the nest on June 1 1 ; but 

 all dates of this kind are largely approximate in 

 Iceland, and vary considerably according to the alti- 

 tude of the place in question, and the earliness, or 

 otherwise, of the spring. We noticed White Wagtails 

 near Myvatn, in 1884, perching on willow bushes 

 near their nest like Whinchats in England. This 

 bird is not allowed to be killed at any time of year 

 by the Close Season Act (see p. xv.). The nest is of 

 grass and fine roots, lined usually with pony's hair, 

 seldom with feathers, and is placed in a hole in a 

 bank, or turf-wall, or in a rock crevice. The eggs, 

 four to five in number, are white, thickly and finely 

 spotted with grey, and are not distinguishable from 

 those of our Pied Wagtail (if. luguhris, Temm.), of 

 which this species is the continental representative. 

 The White Wagtail usually nests near human habita- 



