MOTACILLA FLAVIVENTRIS. 281 



place Mr. Jackson shot an adult male in May at an elevation 

 of 6,500 feet. 



Motacilla flaviventris. 



Motacilla flaviventris, Verr. ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. x. p. 496 (1885) 

 Madagascar; Sibree, Ibis, 1891, p. 441; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 147 

 (1896). 



Adult. Above, deep grey with a slight yellow shade on the lower back 

 and scapulars ; sides of the head deep grey inclining to black in front of the 

 eye, and separated from the crown by a white eyebrow ; wing brownish 

 black with the least coverts grey, the other feathers with partial pale edges, 

 the quills have a large white patch towards the base confined to the inner 

 webs of the primaries and crossing both webs of the secondaries ; under 

 wing-coverts white ; upper tail-coverts and four pairs of centre tail-feathers 

 black, and the outer two pairs of tail-feathers white, with broad oblique 

 black inner edges ; throat and front of chest white with a black crop-band, 

 remainder of the breast and the under tail-coverfcs bright yellow ; thighs 

 white. Iris brown ; bill and legs blackish. Total length 6 - 8 inches, culinen 

 0-55, wing 3-3, tail 3-4, tarsus 0-9. 



The Madagascar Wagtail is confined to the island of that 

 name. 



This is the only species of the family Motacillidx which has 

 yet been met with in the Madagascar subregion. According 

 to M. Grandidier, who has devoted so much energy in study- 

 ing the birds of Madagascar, the females and young differ 

 from the adult males in being of a duller colouring, with the 

 rump less green and the abdomen paler. Their habits are 

 like those of the other better-known Wagtails : they frequent 

 the banks of streams and lakes and damp districts, always on 

 the move, walking step by step, or running swiftly after some 

 insect, and constantly flitting their tails up and down. Their 

 flight is undulating and generally close to the ground. They 

 are mostly found singly or in pairs, like other Wagtails, when 

 not on migration, and feed on the insects and their larva? 



