909 



MOSS-AGATE. 



MOTACILLIN^E. 



910 



female ; and accordingly we find that the organs of the one attain to 

 a development which the others never reach. In these views we 

 believe ourselves to be borne out by direct experiment, in connection 

 with which we may allude to the greater difficulty of catching the 

 male Mosquito. 



"In the course of our observations we have arrived at the conclusion 

 that the antennae serve, to a considerable extent, as organs of touch 

 in the female : for the palpi are extremely short, while the antenna; 

 are very moveable, and nearly equal the proboscis in length. In the 

 male however the length and perfect development of the palpi would 

 lead us to look for the seat of the tactile sense elsewhere ; and 

 in fact we find the two apical antennal joints to be long, moveable, 

 and comparatively free from hairs ; and the relative motion of the 

 remaining joints very much more limited." (Dr. Christopher Johnston, 

 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.) 



MOSS-AGATE. [AOATE.] 



MOSSES, [MuscL] 



MOTACILLA. [BLUE-BIRD; BLUE-BREAST; ERYTHACA; MOTA- 

 OLUBK] 



MOTACILLIN.E, or MOTACILLIDvE, a sub-family of Birds 

 belonging to the family Sylviadce. [SYLVIAM:.] They are an active 

 graceful race, tripping it along the smooth shaven grassplots, edges of 

 ponds, and sandy river-shores in unwearied search for their insect-food, 

 and with tails which never cease to vibrate as long as their restless 

 little bodies are in action. The species are natives of the Old World 

 only Europe, Asia, and Africa. At least the form does not appear 

 to have been hitherto detected in America, and that continent has now 

 been much searched by zoologists. 



The genus ifotacilla, as it was left by Linnams, in his last edition 

 of the ' Systema Naturre,' comprised the following species : 



.W. liucinia. M. icterocephala. 



M. calidra. M. Dominica. 



M. modularis. M. Canadentis. 



if. ichrenobcnvt. M. maderaspatana. 



M. campcalrla. if. aurocapilla. 



if. curruca. M. petecfiia. 



M. hippolait. if. dumetorum. 



if. talicaria. M. cinnamomca. 



if. tylvia. if. caparata. 



if. ficedula. if. jihcenicurus. 



M. alba. M. erithacus. 



if. Jlara. M. guira. 



M. tiphia. if. Suecica. 



if. ttapazina. M. tialu. 



M. ctnanthe. M.fulicata. 



if. rubetra. M. Cayana. 



if. rubicola. if. velia. 



if. atricapilla. M. cxrulea. 



M. PenTwyltanica. M. sibilla. 



M. chrytoptera. if. r\ibecula, 



M. coronata. if. troglodyla. 



M. Senegaleiuit. if. calendula. 



if. varia. if. regului. 



M. Capentii. M. trochilui. 



Here we find assembled with the true Wagtails, the Nightingale, 

 the Redstart, the Robin, the Wren, the Whitethroat, the Black-Cap, 

 the Stonecbat, the Blue-Bird, the Hedge and other warblers, and the 

 Golden-Crested Wren. 



It may well be supposed that many a group, not to say family, has 

 been formed at the expense of this genus MotacUla; and in this 

 work the arrangements of more modern ornithologists will be found 

 under the title SYLVIAD.C. 



In the present article we propose to restrict ourselves to the True 

 Wagtails. 



These have been thus sub-divided by Cuvier : 



1. Les Hochequeues (MotacUla, Bechst.). The Wagtails, according 

 to Cuvier, join to a bill still more slender than that of the Fauvettes, 

 a long tail which they elevate and depress incessantly, lengthened legs, 

 and, especially, scapular feathers long enough to cover the end of the 

 wing when folded, which gives them a certain degree of aproximation 

 to the greater part of the Waders. The following are Cuvier's sub- 

 divisions : 



2. The Wagtails properly BO called, or Lavandieres. (MotacUla, 

 CUT.). These have still the claw of the hind-toe curved like the other 

 Bee-Fins. They live near the water-side. Ex. M. alba. 



3. The Bergeronettes (Budytea, Cuv.). The Bergeronettes have, 

 with the other characters of the Lavandieres, the claw of the hind toe 

 elongated and but little arched, which approximates them to the 

 Pipits. [ANTHUS; ALACDIK^E.] They haunt pastures and seek for 

 insects among the flocks, whence their French name. Ex. M. 

 (Bttdytct) Jlaca. 



The genus MotacUla thus limited, including the sub-genus Bndytes 

 may be thus characterised : Bill slender, subulate, straight, carinated, 

 angulated between the nostrils, emarginated at the tip ; the edges of 

 both mandibles slightly compressed inwards. Nostrils basal, lateral, 

 oval, and partly concealed by a naked membrane. Wings of moderate 

 size ; the first quill-feather the longest, the second and third equal in 



length and nearly as long as the first; the tertials very long. Tarsus 

 much longer than the middle toe ; the outer toe of the three in front 

 joined to the middle toe at its base ; the claw of the hind-toe some- 

 times elongated. Tail, of 12 feathers, long and nearly even at the 

 end. (Yarrell.) 



M. Yarrdlii (Gould), the Pied Wagtail Spring Plumage. Male. 

 Forehead, cheeks, sides of the neck, and lower parts, pure white ; 

 occiput, nape, throat, breast, feathers of the middle of the tail and 

 its upper coverts, deep black ; back and sides ash-colour, coverts of 

 the wings blackish bordered with white ; the two external tail-feathers 

 white. Length rather more than seven inches. 



Female. Forehead and cheeks of a less clear white; the black 

 patch on the occiput less, aud the borders of the wing-coverts verging 

 to gray. 



Complete Winter Plumage. Throat and front of the neck pure 

 white, spotless ; on the lower part of the neck a deep black band, the 

 sides of which ascend towards the throat. The ash-colour of the 

 upper parts less deep than it is in summer. 



Young. Lower parts dirty- white ; on the breast a crescent, more 

 or less large, of a brown ash-colour. In autumn the young begin to 

 put on the lively of the adults; those of the second hatch quit our 

 climates, says M. Temminck, in their youthful garb, and even come 

 back sometimes in the same state at the return of spring. In this 

 state it is the M. cinerea of Gmeliu, Sylvia cinerea of Latham, Ber- 

 geronette gi-ue of Buffon. (Temm.) 



This bird is common and stationary over the whole of the southern 

 part of the European continent, remaining during winter dispersed 

 over the southern counties of England. " Yet," says Mr. Gould, in 

 continuation, " we learn from Mr. Selby and Bewick, that, even so far 

 north only as Durham, it migrates southward in October, and does 

 not again make its appearance till the following March ; and Mr. Low, 

 in his ' Natural History of Orkney,' tells us that it continues there 

 the shortest time of any of the migratory birds that come to build, 

 and is never to be seen after the end of May. It is also known to 

 migrate still farther north ; but, as might be expected, the higher the 

 degree of latitude attained, the shorter is the duration of the visit. ; 

 (' Birds of Europe.') 



Pied Wagtail (ifotacilla Yarrelli). 

 Lo-wer figure, winter plumage ; upper flguve, summer plumage. 



The same author however, in the 'Magazine of Natural History ' 

 (1837), thus writes of the genus MotacUla: "While engaged upon 

 this tribe of birds during the course of my work on the 'Birds of 

 Europe,' I was equally surprised to find that the sprightly and Pied 

 Wagtail, so abundant in our islands at all seasons, could not be referred 

 to any described species; and that it was equally as limited in its 

 habitat; for, besides the British Islands, Norway and Sweden are the 

 only parts of Europe where I have been able to procure examples 

 identical with our bird, whose place in the temperate portions of 

 Europe is supplied by a nearly allied but distinct species, the true 

 Motacilla alba of Linnajus; which, although abundant in France, 

 particularly in the neighbourhood of Calais, has never yet been 



