BIRDS OF EGYPT. 127 



natives hauling at the boat prevented the possibility of my 

 shooting it on several occasions. It is a beautifully marked 

 species, the pure black and white of its plumage rendering it 

 very easy to distinguish from M. alba. In April I found it 

 beginning to breed. Much confusion has been created in 

 the nomenclature of this species, which is usually called 

 3f. lugubris, and is thus designated by me in one of my 

 papers to ' The Ibis.' Having compared my Egyptian speci- 

 mens with examples of M. vidua in Mr. Sharpe's collection 

 from all parts of Africa, I cannot see any specific distinctions. 



A Very plain white band passes from the beak over the eye to 

 behind the ear-coverts. The following portions of the plumage 

 are black : — lores, cheeks, ear-coverts, a band down the side 

 of the neck joining a crescent-shaped patch on the front of 

 the chest ; top of the head, back of the neck, back, scapulars, 

 tail, except the two outer feathers on each side ; wing, except 

 the basal portion of all the quills but the two outer ones, the 

 edges of the secondaries, and the greater portion of the larger 

 wing-coverts, which are white ; remainder of the plumage 

 white ; beak and legs black ; irides dark brown. 



Entire length 7 inches ; culmen 0*6 ; wing, carpus to 

 tip, 3"5 ; tarsus 0*9. 



89. MoTACiLLA SULPHUKEA, Bcchst. Grey Wagtail. 



I was never fortunate enough to meet with this species 

 myself in Egypt, although it is undoubtedly to be found 

 there, probably as a winter visitor. Mr. E. C. Taylor (Ibis, 

 1867, p. 63) says that he saw it at Cairo in January; and 

 Dr. A. Leith Adams (Ibis, 1864, p. 22) mentions that it was 

 met with in its usual retreats as far south as Nubia. 



