MOTACILLA BOARULA. 347 



The general colour in winter is — forehead, throat, belly, and two 

 bands on the wing, white ; crown of the head, crescent on the 

 breast, back of the neck, rump, wing-coverts and tail, black ; 

 middle of the back, grey — sometimes black — hence, from the 

 distinct white and black, called pied ; the bill and feet are also 

 black ; iris, dark brown. Length, 7J inches, including the tail, 

 which is 4 inches; extent of wings, 11 J inches. The tail is 

 long and narrow, which when waved up and down gives the 

 bird a graceful appearance, and hence its doubly appropriate 

 name of pied-wagtail. Female similar. 



The Grey and White Wagtail. 



(Motacilla Boarula.) Linn. 



" Close in sequestered lanes they build, 

 Where, till the flitting bird's return, 

 Her eggs within the nest repose, 

 Like relics in an urn." — Wordsivorth. 



There is also confusion about this bird ; some authors 

 confound it with the pied-wagtail, which it resembles, only has 

 less black on its head, throat, and back, and lighter grey. It 

 has all the activity and dexterity of the last, with even more 

 elegance of form, and the variegated black, white, and grey still 

 more finely pencilled. I think it the true M. alba of Linnaeus, 

 but it is much rarer than the last. I have got its nest on the 

 banks of the Kenly Burn, and at the river Eden ; and got one 

 in a disused drain pipe at the Abbey mill dam, with five eggs. 

 It was loosely made of roots and dry grass, profusely lined with 

 hair and wool, gathered from the park adjacent. When on a 

 nest-hunting expedition to Tentsmuir on May 28th, I saw three 

 on the cart road at Earlsha', and have seen it here at all 

 seasons, but chiefly in summer. It also has a summer and a 

 winter garb ; hence it is difficult to determine the different 

 species of wagtails. I have seen three different species at one 

 time at the Kinness Burn, so it is little wonder that Yarrell has 

 added another species, whether rightly or wrongly, after his 

 own name. The grey and white one generally comes here in 

 March, and shifts further south in October. The eggs, five to 

 six, are less freckled and more tinged with brown than those of 



