THE WAGTAILS. 107 
Wagtails are, as a group, most difficult to identify; it 
is easy to tell the pied ones from the yellow ones, it is 
true, but there are several kinds in each section, and, with 
their changes of plumage according to age and season, 
they are not the birds for the beginner to attempt to 
identify. 
Fortunately, however, the two best known kinds are 
easily distinguished from all the rest, and these are the 
only ones which need be treated at length here. 
THe Larce Prep Waerait (Motacilla madraspatensis) 
is called Mamula or Khanjan in Hindustani; it is the 
largest of the Wagtails, and is the only one which is 
resident in the plains. Apart from its size—it is about 
nine inches long—its markings are very characteristic. 
The male is altogether black and white; the general 
plumage being black, with the eyebrows, belly, sides of 
the tail, and most of the wing white. The hen is smaller 
and has the back grey instead of black, but otherwise 
is just like the cock. 
Young birds are drab where the old ones are black, 
and the white parts of the plumage are not so pure. This 
species differs from other pied Wagtails in showing 
so little white about the head. The large Pied Wagtail 
is confined to India and Ceylon, and is rare in Eastern 
Bengal, though I have once seen it in Calcutta. it does 
not go far up the Himalayas, but ascends-the South 
Indian hills up to eight thousand feet. 
It builds a small pad of a nest in any convenient hole 
in a bank or building and lays four brown-spotted 
eggs. Unlike most Wagtails, it is a good songster,. 
