MOTACILLA CINEEEOCAPILLA 151 



MOTACILLA CINEREOCAPILLA, Savi. 



GREY-HEADED WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla cinereocapilla, Saw;', TVkoi'. Giorn. del. Letter, p. 190 (1831). 

 Motacilla cinereicapilla, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. x, p. 526. 

 Budytes cinereocapilla, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 9 (1867) ; 



Koenuj, J.f. 0. 1888, p. 213 ; id. J.f. 0. 1893, p. 26. 

 Motacilla viridis, Whitaker, Ibis, 1895, p. 96. 

 Budytes flavus cinereocapillus, Erlanger, J.f. 0. 1899, p. 321. 



Descri2}tion.^Rdult male, spring, from Tuuis, North Tunisia. 



Diifers from M. flara in having the chin and throat white and the 

 white supercihary stripe absent or less developed. 



Soft parts and measurements as in M. flava. 



Adult female like the female of M. flava, but with a white throat. 



Young like the young of M. flava, but with little or no eye-stripe as a 

 rule. The young of the different forms of Yellow Wagtail are not easily 

 distinguishable from each other. 



Observations. — The absence of the white superciliary stripe in this species 

 is by no means a constant character, and specimens are often found luith 

 a stripe, although as a rule this is less pronounced than in M. flava, and 

 more at the back of the eye. Apparently, therefore, the only constant and 

 well-marked differential character between the two lies in the distinct 

 white throat of the present species. 



This Wagtail is common in Tunisia as a regular migrant, arriving 

 in April and returning southwards in the early autumn. 



According to Blauc, however, the species nests in the Eegency, 

 which is highly probable, as it is a common breeding species in Sicily 

 and Southern Italy, being, indeed, a Mediterranean form. In the 

 localities it frequents and in its general habits this species does not 

 differ greatly from M. flava, although, according to some ornith- 

 ologists, it is far more shy than that species, and also has a different 

 note. In Sicily the principal vernacular name for the present species 

 is Pispisa vizzitana, that of M. flava being Pispisa virritana, the 

 local " cacciatori " and bird-fanciers professing to be able to dis- 

 tinguish the two by their notes, those of M. flava, according to them, 

 resembling the words virri-virri, whereas those of M. cinereocapilla 

 are more like vizzi-vizzi. 



Nests of this species found in Europe are placed on the ground, 



