212 BRITISH BIRDS. 
MOTACILLA RAIL. 
YELLOW WAGTAIL. 
(Puate 14.) 
Motacilla flava, Linn. apud Donovan, Hist. Brit. B. i. pl. xv. (1794). 
Budytes flavissima, Blyth, Mag. Nat. Hist. vii. p. 342 (1834), 
Budytes flava (Linn.), apud Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 15 (1836). 
Budytes rayi, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 18 (1838); et auctorum 
plurimorum— Yarrell, (Degland), (Gerbe), (Macgillivray), Gray, Dresser, 
Newton, &e. 
Motacilla flava, var. anglica, Sund. Vet. Ak. Handl. Stockh. 1840, p. 53. 
Motacilla flava rayi, Schlegel, Rev. Crit. p. xxxviii (1844). 
Motacilla anglorum, Florent Prévost, fide Degl. Orn. Eur. i, p. 442 (1849). 
Budytes rayi, var. flavifrons, Severtz. Turk. Jevotn. p. 67 (1873). 
The Yellow Wagtail is a summer visitor to the British Islands, but only 
appears to pass the Channel Islands occasionally on migration. It is 
commonly distributed in England, except in the extreme south-west. In 
Scotland it is most common in the southern counties; but it breeds 
sparingly in Inverness and Aberdeen, and has been met with in Suther- 
landshire. It has occurred several times in Orkney, and is a rare straggler 
in autumn to the Shetlands. In Ireland it is only known to breed in one 
locality, Lough Neagh ; but has occurred as a straggler in other places. 
On the continent of Europe it breeds in the north of France, passes 
through the south of France, Spain, and Portugal on migration, and occa- 
sionally strays into North-west Italy, in all of which districts it is possible 
that a few remain to breed. In Africa it has been found in winter as far 
south as the Transvaal on the east coast, and has occurred in Gambia, 
the Gold Coast, and the Gaboon on the west. An isolated colony appears 
to exist in South-east Russia and West Turkestan. 
The Yellow Wagtail has no very near ally with which it is likely to be 
confused. From the green-headed variety of Motacilla flava found on 
Formosa it may at once be distinguished by the colour of its ear-coverts, 
which are yellow or yellowish green instead of greenish brown. 
The Yellow Wagtail bears the same relation to the Blue-headed Wagtail 
that the Pied Wagtail does to the White Wagtail. There is scarcely any 
difference between the two former birds, except in the colour of the head. 
It would be impossible to say to which species an albino of either of them 
belonged. Their habits are precisely the same, and their nests and eggs 
are indistinguishable. Their favourite haunts scarcely differ. A meadow 
amongst the Norfolk Broads is, or used to be, an almost exact duplicate in 
