MOTACILLA. 269 



plains and perch on trees. Their habits are peculiar and characteristic. 

 Living as they do on the ground they run at a great speed by short jerky 

 movements, and when still, wag their tails up and down continually. Their 

 food is chiefly insects, but some eat grain and seeds also. They breed mostly 

 on the ground or on the ledges of rock, and lay whitish or clay-coloured eggs. 

 A few species only breed in India proper, and those chiefly in the Himalayas 

 and Cashmere, the rest (a considerable number) are migratory, and visit India 

 only during winter. 



Gen. Motacilla. Linn. 



Bill moderate, slender and compressed at the tip, profile of oilmen straight 

 from the base of the bill to the tip ; nostrils apert ; wings with nine long 

 primary quills, the first two subequal and longest ; tertiaries equal to the 

 primaries in length, or nearly so ; tarsus long and slender ; hind toe short with 

 slightly curved claw. 



Owing to the many stages of plumage in which the species of this large 

 family of birds are met with in India, and also to the insufficient materials 

 for comparison and study, I consider it best to follow Mr. Sharpe as closely 

 as possible in the description and key to the plumage of each species, as the 

 admirable manner in which he has worked them out, with the immense mass 

 of materials at his hand, leaves nothing to be added or desired. 



782. Motacilla alba, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 331; StoL, Sir. F. 

 1875, p. 217; Dresser, B. Eur. iii. p. 233 ; Blanf., East Persia, ii. p. 232; 

 Scully, Str.F. 1876, p. i5i ; Brooks, Sir. F. 1877, p. 472 ; id. Str. F. 1878, 

 vol. ii. p. 137; Hume, Str. F. 1879, p. 103; Scully, t. c. p. 313 ; Brooks, 

 t. c. p. 484; Vidal, Str. F. 1880, p. 69; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 68; 

 Scully, t. c. p. 45 1 ; Oates, B. Br. Burnt, i. p. 156; Seebohm, Hist. Br. 

 B. iii. p. 199; Murray, Vert. Zool. Stnd, p. 166. Motacilla dukhenensis, 

 Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 91; Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 250 ; Gould, B. Asia, 

 pi. 62 ; Blanf., Ibis, 1863, p. 219; Hume, Str. F. 1873, pp. 29, 30; Ball, 

 Str. F. 1874, p. 416 ; Brooks, t. c. p. 457 ; id. Str. F. 1875, p. 49 ; Wald. in 

 Bl. B. Burmah, p. 97 ; Hume and Davison, Str. F. 1878, vol. ii. p. 137 ; 

 Vidal, Str. F. 1880, p. 69; Davison, Str. F. 1883, p. 395. Motacilla 

 dakhanensis, Fairb., Str. F. 1876, p. 260. The WHITE-FACED WAGTAIL. 

 The following is Mr. Sharpe's key to the plumage of this species : 

 (a) Throat white or yellowish white. 

 (a') Forehead like the crown. 



(a") Throat dingy white, tinged with yellow ; foreneck and 

 chest dull ashy with a dusky patch in the centre of the 

 former 



Young: ist plumage. 



(") Throat white, washed with yellow, separated from the 

 white breast by a crescent of black on the foreneck 

 Young-, ist autumn plumage. 



