16G 



WHITE WAGTAIL. 



GEET AXD WHITE WAGTAIL. 



MotaciUa ulha, Lixx.F.us. Gmelin. 



" Brissoniy Macgillivray. 



3Iotacilla—K Wagtail. ^/5a— White. 



As stated in the previous article, these two supposed species 

 of AVagtail have only lately been considered as such; having 

 been previously, and, as is thought, erroneously, combined 

 under one. I will not pass a decided opinion upon the 

 subject — the imagined differences will appear in the specific 

 description; but I must observe that some degree of uncer- 

 tainty even still prevails. Thus Mr. Macgillivray, usually so 

 scrupulously accurate, in treating of the present bird, quotes 

 Mr. Grould as saying that it, the Linnaean one, has never yet 

 been discovered in any part of England, yet Mr. Macgillivray 

 is himself descnbing it as a sufficiently plentiful species at 

 the time; and then, nevertheless, after so sapng, he gives 

 his o"UTi description from continental specimens. So again, 

 Mr. YarreU says that 'although' believing the birds to be 

 distinct, he gives figures and descriptions of 'both;' and then 

 follows, with the figure of the Pied Wagtail, one of the 

 Continental ^^^lite Wagtail, which, he says, he has very little 

 doubt 'will be' occasionally found in this country. All this 

 seems like 'confusion worse confounded;' and I cannot with 

 truth profess to bo able to see my way very clearly. In 

 the last edition, however, he gives it. The Prince of Musignano 

 considers that two distinct species exist. 



This bird is found over the whole of the continent of 



