276 MOTACILLID^. 



Maleand female in breeding plumage. Forehead, lores, ear coverts, feathers 

 over the eye, sides of the head and of the neck pure white ; the whole upper 

 plumage, chin, throat and breast black ; lower plumage white ; the four 

 central pairs of rectrices black, narrowly edged with white ; the next pair white, 

 with a streak of black on the edge of the inner web ; the outer pair white, 

 with a still narrower streak of black on the inner web ; lesser wing coverts 

 black ; median and greater series pure white, with concealed dark bases ; 

 bastard wing, primary coverts and quills black, edged with ashy white, purer 

 and broader on the secondaries ; under tail coverts white ; thighs white with 

 dark bases to the feathers ; under wing coverts and axillaries pure white. Bill 

 black, bluish below ; iris brown ; legs dark brown or nearly black. (Sharpe.) 



Length. 6-8 to 77 inches; wing 3-45 to 3^5 ; tail 3*4 to 3-6; tarsus 0*85 

 to 0*9; culm en 0*65, 



In winter the black of the upper plumage becomes iron grey; the frontal 

 band is washed with brown and becomes much like the back, the chin and 

 throat are white, and there is only a circular dark patch on the breast. 



Hab. Eastern Siberia to China generally and the Himalayas, wintering in 

 Southern China, the Burmese countries, the Andaman Islands and the plains 

 of India (Sharpe). Nepaul, Darjeeling, Bengal, Assam, Bhamo, Pegu, Tavoy 

 and Tenasserim are recorded localities. In Pegu, according to Gates, it is 

 found abundantly over the whole of the plains during winter, arriving about 

 the middle of September and leaving in April. In the Tenasserim Division 

 it is only found in the northern half. It is one of the commonest birds 

 wherever it occurs, and frequents by preference margins of ponds and rivei^. 



786. Motacilla HodgSOIli, Blyth, MSS. ; Hodgs. Icon. ined. in 

 Br. Mm. Passcres, pi. 133, fig. 3; Blanf., J. A. S. B. 1872, p. 59; Hume, 

 Str. F. 1873, p. 26; Brooks, Sir. F. 1875, pp.247, 2 7 8 ; M>, MM, 1878, 

 p. 472 ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1878, p. 346 ; Brooks, Sir. F. 1878, ii. p. I 4 o ; Hume, 

 Str. F. 1879, p. 103 ; Scully, t. c. p. 312; Brooks, t. c. p. 484; Scully, Ibis, 

 1881, p. 451. Motacilla luzoniensis, Hume and Henderson, Lahore lo Yark, 

 p. 223. HODGSON'S WAGTAIL. 



PLATE. 



Adult in summer plumage. A broad frontal band, including in its extent 

 the sides of the crown, lores, feathers all round and below the eye, and also 

 behind the eye, above the black ear coverts white ; crown of the head, nape, 

 back, scapulars and whole upper surface including the upper tail coverts 

 black, the latter with white edges on the outermost; a line of black from the 

 gape, joining the black of the nape and sides of the neck ; followed by a 

 white line, the feathers being 'mottled with black ; chin, throat, sides of the 

 neck, foreneck and breast black ; under surface of the body, including the 

 under tail coverts, axillaries and under coverts, white ; median and greater 

 series of wing coverts white, with concealed dark bases to the latter ; bastard 



