THE BLACK-HEADED WAGTAIL. 199 



brown, usually no eye-stripe and if any it is yellow and broken. 

 Summer. — Crown black often extending on to mantle, lores and 

 ear- coverts black, chin yellow usually without white, edgings 

 and tips of wing-coverts brighter yellow than in M. f. flava, dark 

 patches on sides of breast darker and sometimes black. 



Adtdt feynale. Winter. — Fore-head, crown and ear-coverts 

 mixture of black and brownish-grey, eye-stripe, if any, yellow. 

 Summer. — Crown and ear-coverts with more black than in winter, 

 tips and edgings of wing-coverts yellower than in M. f. flava, 

 eye-stripe, if any, yellow. 



Nestling and juvenile. — (Not examined.) 



First wifiter male and first summer female. — Very similar to 

 M. f. flava but always some black or blackish feathers on fore-head 

 and sometimes on crown but ear-coverts brown and eye-stripe 

 white. 



First winter. Female. — Apparently indistinguishable from 

 M. f. flava. 



Measurements and structure. — Larger but otherwise like 

 M. f. flava. ^ wing 79-88 mm., tail 70-80, tarsus 23-26, bill from 

 skull 14-17 (12 measured). 



Breeding-habits. — Nests sometimes in cornfields and sometimes 

 in open plain or marsh, sheltered by small bush. Eggs. — 4 to 6. 

 Average size of 18, 18.68 X 14.4 mm. Breeding-season. — From 

 end April or early May to June in south-east Europe ; probably 

 double-brooded. 



Food. — Insect larvae, coleoptera, and small diptera (Lynes). 



Distribution. — England. — Four. Male, Willingdon (Sussex), May 

 13, 1903 (W. R. Butterfield, ZooL, 1903, p. 420). Male, Lydd 

 (Kent), June 3, 1908 (J. B. Nichols, Brit. B., ii, p. 165). Male, 

 Winchelsea (Sussex), May 23, 1909 {id., op. c, iii, p. 256). Male, 

 Romney Marsh (Sussex), May 26, 1909 (C. B. Ticehurst, I.e., 

 p. 257). One (probable) seen Norfolk, June 17 and 19, 1910 

 {op. c, IV, p. 92). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Breeds in Greece, Turkey, north to 

 Bulgaria and south Dalmatia, Asia Minor, Caucasus, south Russia. 

 Migrates south to Arabia and north-east Africa, straying occasionally 

 northwards (Heligoland) and westwards to France, Italy, Tunisia, 

 and Algeria. 



82. Motacilla flava rayi (Bp.)— THE YELLOW WAGTAIL. 



BuDYTES Rayi Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List of B. Europe and 



N. America, p. 18 (1838—" British Islands"). 



Budytes neglectus Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 142 (1855 — England, rarely in 



Germany). 



Motacilla rati (Bonaparte), Yarrell, i, p. 564; Saunders, p. 129 ; M. flava 



rayi (Bp.), Hartert, Brit. B., i, p. 212. 



