PIED WAGTAIL. 367 



soon as their breeding season is over. They also quit Scot- 

 land, and some of the more northern counties of England 

 before winter, and appear to be somewhat gregarious in their 

 habits when on the move from one locality to another, small 

 flocks being occasionally seen about the vernal and autumnal 

 periods of change. Considering our bird as a distinct spe- 

 cies, — for the present at least, — I have not identified it with 

 the localities inhabited by the true M. alba. It is probable, 

 as suggested by Mr. Gould, that the Channel is the line of 

 boundary, although stragglers from either side may have 

 been, and probably will be, found on the opposite shores. It 

 appears from what is known of the habits of our bird, and the 

 circumstance of Mr. Gould having received examples of it 

 from Norway and Sweden, that our Pied Wagtail migrates 

 due north and south. Brunnich, in his Ornithologia Bo- 

 realis, page 70, decidedly refers to a variety of M. alba, 

 besides including the bird itself; but the excellent coloured 

 figure in the Fauna of Scandinavia, by M. Nilsson, of Lund, 

 now in course of publication, represents the true M. alba of 

 Linnaeus. 



The adult male in the plumage of the breeding season, 

 which begins to appear in March, and is completed in April, 

 has the beak and irides almost black ; the forehead, the lore, 

 or space between the beak and the eye, the part surrounding 

 the eye, the ear-coverts, the cheeks, and a portion of the side 

 of the neck, pure white ; the crown of the head, nape of the 

 neck, back, scapulars, rump, and uj^per tail-coverts, black ; 

 the small and great wing-coverts black, broadly edged, and 

 tipped with white ; primary and secondary quill -feathers 

 black, with narrow lighter-coloured outer edges ; the third, 

 fourth, and fifth primaries, with some white on the inner web; 

 the tertials, one of which is very long, black, with broad 

 white outer borders ; the eight central tail-feathers black ; 

 the two outer tail-feathers, on each side, white, with a black 



