Mr. W. C. Tait on the Birds of Portugal. 185 



pipe. It is one of the earliest nesters, and the country people 

 say that it is its duty to " have meat at Easter/' i. e., to have 

 young by that time. 



55. MoTACiLLA ALBA (Linn.). " Lavandeira/' ''Lavan- 

 disca," Vianna do Castello, Lamego and Oporto ; '' Boieira/' 

 Penafiel; " Gon9alinho," Yillar Cha da Maia ; ''Arvella/' 

 " Arvellicha/' Angeja, Aveiro, Caldas d'Aregos^ Estoi, Al- 

 garve ; '' Alveloa/' Coimbra Museum ; " Alvelroa/^ Abrantes. 



Abundant : some remain here all the year round^ and in 

 October the number is increased by the arrival of migrants 

 on their way south. There are two moults, one in August 

 and one about the 10th February. The names " Lavandeira " 

 and " Lavandisca " are a corruption of " Lavadeira " (washer- 

 woman) . In this country the washerwomen wade into the 

 stream, and there they soap and beat the clothes on a broad 

 stone slab, singing and gossiping while at their work. The 

 bird also wades into the shallow parts and hops about on 

 the stones, ducking its head about like the washerwomen. 

 The name " Boieira " is derived from its habit of following 

 about the oxen for the sake of the flies which swarm round 

 them. '^ Alveloa^' may be from the Latin alveus, the bed of 

 a river ; and " Arvella '' is perhaps a corruption of the above, 

 or from arvum, a ploughed field, as the bird is very fond of 

 following the plough. 



56. MoTAciLLA LUGUBRis, Temm. " Lavandisca/'' Oporto. 

 Arrives in the neighbourhood of Oporto about the 20th of 



October, winters here, moults to summer plumage at the end 

 of February or beginning of March, and departs. I saw a 

 straggler iu 1883 as late as the 18th March. It is abun- 

 dant along the sea-coast in winter, feeding on flies and other 

 insects which it finds among the seaweed at high-water mark. 

 Noticing one day a large number of these birds hovering 

 over the sea and occasionally dipping their bills in the water 

 to pick up something, I discovered that they were eating 

 the floating ova of a small crab which swarms at the bottom 

 of the sea in the late autumn off" the coast of Portugal. 



