MOTACILLA CAPENSIS. 547 
former with slight ashy white edgings ; upper tail-coverts black, the 
lateral ones edged with white ; all but the two outer tail-feathers 
black, with slight remains of a white edging on the centre ones ; the 
two outer tail-feathers white, the penultimate one edged with black 
along the inner web; head like the back; a broad white eyebrow ; 
lores and ear-coverts black, joined to the sides of the nape; throat 
white, succeeded by a black patch on the fore-neck, which is joined 
above by a narrow line to the ear-coverts and laterally to the sides 
of the mantle, so as to enclose a large white patch on the sides of 
the neck; breast and abdomen white as well as the under tail- 
coverts ; sides of breast and flanks ashy grey; thighs black with 
white tips; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, mottled with 
blackish bases near the edge of the wing; quills dusky blackish 
below, with a broad white base to the inner web. Total length, 
8 inches; culmen, 0°7; wing, 3°65; tail, 3°7; tarsus, 1:0. 
Winter plwmage.—Is ashy brown above with a black head, instead 
of being entirely black above. The black collar has remains of 
white edges to the feathers. 
Fig. Le Vaill. Ois. d’Afr. iv. pl. 178. 
533. Moraciita capensis, L. Cape Wagtail. 
The “ Quick Stertje,” as it is called by the colonists, is abundant 
throughout the colony, frequenting the crowded cities equally 
with the outlying farmsteads. In Natal, according to Captain 
Shelley, it is not met with in anything like the same abundance, 
but is still considered by Mr. Ayres to be the most common 
of the Wagtails in that colony. He writes:—“It will frequently 
for a length of time follow a horse or ox whilst grazing, running 
actively along the ground and catching small insects which are 
thus disturbed ; it also appears to find its food abundant in cattle 
pens and in muddy streams. Its flight is dipping, like that of 
the Wagtail in England.” 
Majors Butler and Feilden and Capt. Reid observe :—“ Every- 
where abundant inland in Natal, but not so numerous, apparently, in 
the neighbourhood of the coast. A graceful lively bird, with an 
extremely pretty little song, not often heard. Nests were found in 
September, October, and November, built on the banks of streams 
or dry “dongas,” among over-hanging roots, or under projecting 
stones; they are cup-shaped, neatly and massively constructed 
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