WAGTAILS AND PIPITS 



1603 



are moderate, the first three primaries being about equal and longest, and the inner 

 secondaries very long; the tail consists of twelve long narrow feathers; and the meta- 

 tarsus is long and slender. The white wagtail is found throughout Northern 

 Kurope, extending as far east as the Yenisei, and wintering in North Africa; while 

 an allied species is found in Persia; a third breeding in Northern China, and winter- 

 ing in Burma. Seven species of the genus Motacilla are found in South Africa; 

 while no fewer than thirteen visit India during the winter season, at least one of 

 these being a permanent resident in that country. 



h ^ 



THE WHITE WAGTAII,. 

 (Three-fifths natural size.) 



The white wagtail (M. alba} is a common summer visitor to the 

 .... " .. northern and central portions of Europe, delighting in public parks 

 and gardens, where it may be seen running at the roadside in pursuit 

 of its insect prey. In Portugal its provincial name signifies "washerwoman," the 

 analogy having been suggested by the habits of the rural laundresses, who, wading 

 into the streams, cleanse the clothes on a stone. It is partial to the neighborhood 

 of old buildings and outhouses, and often nests in such situations; and in Switzer- 

 land it seeks the mountain chalets and cow sheds, in search of the insects to be found 

 in the neighborhood of domestic animals. The nest of this wagtail may be either 

 among the roots of a tree, or in a bank by the riverside, or occasionally on a shelf 

 in some outbuilding. Mr. Seebohm says that, in Siberia, the white wagtail is one 

 of the first of the soft-billed birds to arrive on the Arctic Circle in any numbers. 

 This wagtail nests two or three times in the season, rearing four or five young 

 ones in a brood; the nest being built of dry stems of grass, moss, and fibres, closely 



