164 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



whicli is in full breeding plumage, with a pure black 

 patch on the throat. In this state, however, it is very 

 rarely met with in Norfolk, and then only when detained 

 on its way northwards by contrary winds in spring. 



MOTACILLA FLAVA, Linnaeus. 



GREY-HEADED WAGTAIL. 



I am not aware that more than three examples of 

 this rare species have been actually identified as killed in 

 Norfollc. Of the first (No. 92) in our museum collection, 

 the following account is given by Messrs. Gurney and 

 Fisher : — " A male bird was killed at Sherringham"^ 

 about May, 1842 ; another wagtail was procured at the 

 same time, which was probably the female ; but as the 

 person who shot them only preserved the brighter- 

 coloured specimen, the latter was unfortunately not 

 identified." The next example, which occurred at Yar- 

 mouth about the 18th of April, 1851, was also a male, 

 and came into the possession of Mr. John Smith, of that 

 town, who recorded its capture in the ''^ Zoologist," p. 

 3174; and a female in the collection of Mr. Alfred 

 Master, of this city, was killed on the Heigham river, a 

 few years back, very late in the spring. That this bird, 

 though for the most part unrecognised, appears from 

 time to time in this county amongst our yellow wag- 

 tails, is extremely probable, from the fact of its having 

 been met with at Lowestoft (Suffolkj on more than one 

 occasion, consorting with the more common species. 

 The late Mr. ThurteH, a bird-presei-ver of that town, in 

 a communication to Mr. Gurney, in 1854 (Zoologist, 



* This is the same bird mentioned by Mr. Lubbock in his 

 " Fauna," as preserved in the Norwich museum. 



