BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL. 209 
northern limit of its range in Russia. In Western Europe it is found 
down to Gibraltar, and crosses the straits into Tangiers; but m Eastern 
Europe it does not breed so far south. It passes through South Russia, 
Greece, and North-east Africa on migration, and winters in South Africa, 
whence it has been received from Damara Land, Natal, and the Transvaal. 
In Asia it is said to have about the same range to the north, but in Alaska 
it breeds up to lat. 64°. It breeds throughout South Siberia, Mongolia, 
and North China, wintering in India and Burma. In Turkestan it is only 
known on migration. It is doubtful whether it has occurred in Persia, 
but it breeds in the Caucasus. The Asiatic form, to which Pallas gave the 
name of Motacilla flaveola, differs slightly from the European form. The 
green on the back is yellower; the white on the chin extends to the upper 
throat and more or less to the ear-coverts ; the grey on the head is paler 
and bluer, and on an average the tail is slightly shorter. At most it can 
only claim subspecific rank, as many examples from Eastern Europe and 
Western Asia are intermediate. A more marked local race, which may 
possibly be specifically distinct, is resident in the island of Formosa and 
on the adjoining mainland of China, and is distinguished by its canary- 
yellow eye-stripe. The olive-green of the back is slightly darker than in 
European examples, and also replaces the slate-grey of the head. Swinhoe 
named this form M. taivanus; but as Dybowsky found two examples near 
Lake Baikal, and Meves obtained one near Stockholm, its specific distinct- 
ness can scarcely be regarded as established. An Arctic form of the 
Blue-headed Yellow Wagtail, M. cinereocapilla, breeds in North Europe 
and Asia, between lat. 63° and 68°, passes through Central and 
Southern Europe on migration, and winters in Africa somewhere south 
of Abyssinia. A colony of these birds also breeds in the Lombard Alps. 
The Asiatic birds pass through Turkestan and China on migration, and 
winter in India, Ceylon, and Burma. This form has not yet been recorded 
from the British Islands, although it was erroneously inserted in the British 
fauna by Mr. Gould. It differs in having no eye-stripe, and in having the 
lores and ear-coverts nearly black. A tropical form, M. melanocephala, 
also with no eye-stripe, and having the crown as well as the ear-coverts 
and lores black, is a summer visitor to Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, the 
Caucasus, Persia, and Turkestan. The European birds winter in North- 
east Africa, where a few remain to breed; whilst the Asiatic birds pass 
the cold season in India. Intermediate forms between this bird and both 
M. flava and M. cinereocapilla occur, so that probably none of them are 
specifically distinct. 
The Blue-headed Wagtail is strictly a migratory bird in Europe, and 
does not reach the southern shores of the German Ocean until April, a 
month later than the arrival of the White Wagtail in the same locality, 
and long after the Yellow Wagtail has found its way to our islands. ‘The 
VOL, II. P 
