WHITE WAGTAIL. 199 
MOTACILLA ALBA. 
WHITE WAGTAIL. 
(Prat 14.) 
Ficedula motacilla, Briss. Orn, iii. p. 461 (1760), 
Ficedula motacilla cinerea, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 465 (1760), 
Motacilla alba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 331 (1766, partim); et auetorum plurimorum 
—Gmelin, Scopolhi, Latham, Bonaparte, Naumann, Degland §& Gerbe, Savi, 
Salvadori, Newton, Dresser, &e. 
Motacilla cinerea (Brvss.), eek Syst. Nat. i. p. 961 (1788). 
Motacilla albeola, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 506 (1826), 
Motacilla dukhunensis, Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1832, p- 91. 
Motacilla brissoni, Macgill. Man. Brit. B.i. p. 160 (1840). 
Motacilla baicalensis, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 363. 
The White Wagtail was first noticed in England in May 1841 by 
Mr. Bond, who found it breeding at Kingsbury reservoir. Since that date 
many other specimens have been obtained, chiefly in spring, leading to the 
conclusion that a few come every year to this country to breed. Amongst 
other localities where it has been found breeding may be mentioned North 
Devon, the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Kent, and Huntingdonshire. It is of 
far less frequent occurrence in Ireland, but may have been overlooked. In 
Scotland the only specimen which has come under Mr. Gray’s notice was 
shot in the winter of 1847 at Dunbar, in East Lothian, whilst Saxby states 
that he saw a pair at Lerwick in 1854. A specimen of this bird has been 
sent from Greenland ; and it is common in summer in Iceland and the 
Faroes. 
The White Wagtail breeds throughout Europe as far north as land 
extends. In the northern portions of its range it is a migratory bird, and 
winters in South Europe, where some remain to breed on the mountains. 
It also winters in North Africa, in the west as far south as Senegal, and in 
the east as far south as Zanzibar ; but a few are said to remain to breed in 
Egypt. It occasionally visits the Canaries in winter. It breeds in Siberia, 
as far east as the valley of the Yenesay and as far north as land extends, 
In Palestine, Asia Minor, and Persia it is principally known as a winter 
visitor, but many remain to breed in the highlands. Its breeding-range 
also extends throughout South-west Siberia; but in Turkestan it is 
chiefly known as passing through on iets fan, except in the south-west, 
where a few remain to winter. A somewhat nearly allied species, MW. 
personata, having the grey back of the White Wagtail, but the white 
on the head joined to the white on the throat as in the Pied Wagtail, ranges 
