116 AYES INSESSORES. [MOTACILLA. 



M. flava, Ray, Syn. Av. p. 75. Yellow Wagtail, Mont. Orn. Diet, 

 and Supp. Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 255. pi. 49. f. 3. Bew. Brit. 

 Birds, vol. i. p. 229. 



DIMENS. Entire length six inches eight lines: length of the bill (from 

 the forehead) five lines and a half, (from the gape) eight lines ; of the 

 tarsus eleven lines ; of the hind toe, claw included, eight lines and a half; 

 of the tail two inches eleven lines; from the carpus to the end of the wing 

 three inches : breadth, wings extended, nine inches nine lines. 



DE SCRIPT. (Male.) Crown of the head, nape, and ear-coverts, pale 

 olive-green ; back, rump, and scapulars, of the same colour but darker : 

 over the eyes a bright yellow streak : all the under parts bright yellow : 

 quills and coverts blackish brown, edged and tipped with yellowish white : 

 tail dusky ; the two middle feathers edged with pale olive ; the two outer 

 ones with the whole of their external, and a large part of their inner webs 

 white : bill and feet black. (Female.) Upper plumage inclining more to 

 cinereous : throat yellowish white ; the rest of the under parts yellow, 

 but not so bright as in the male. (Young of the year.) Resembling the 

 female, but still paler: upper parts dull cinereous, very faintly tinged 

 with olivaceous : all the under parts yellowish white : greater and lesser 

 coverts broadly tipped with white, forming two bars across the wings : 

 tail as in the adult. (Egg.) White, mottled nearly all over with yellow 

 and ash-brown : long. diam. eight lines and a half; trans, diam. six lines 

 and a half. 



A migratory species, visiting this country about the end of March, or 

 beginning of April. Frequents downs, and arable lands, and is rather 

 less attached to water than either of the foregoing species. Nest placed 

 on the ground ; composed of dried stalks and fibres, and lined with hair. 

 Eggs four or five in number. 



65. M. neglecta, Gould. (Blue-headed Wagtail.) 

 Head bluish lead-colour ; streak above the eye white : 

 body above olivaceous green, beneath yellow. 



M. neglecta, Gould in Proceed, of Zool. Soc. 1832, p. 129. Id. Europ. 

 Birds, part 3. M. flava, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. i. p. 260. 



DIMENS. Entire length six inches. GOULD. 



DESCRIPT. Closely resembling the last species, from which it scarcely 

 differs excepting in the colour of the head and streak above the eye : the 

 former, instead of being olivaceous like the rest of the upper parts, is of a 

 fine lead gray, approaching to blue ; the latter, as well as a second streak 

 beneath the eyes, is white. The female has the colours paler, and the 

 eye-streaks indistinctly marked. (Egg.) "Greenish olive, with light 

 flesh-coloured blotches." GOULD. 



Mr Gould has the merit of having first distinguished this from the 

 M. flava, with which it had been previously confounded. The differences 

 between them, he observes, do not depend upon the season, he having 

 obtained specimens of each killed in the same month. The present spe- 

 cies, which appears to be the only .one known to continental authors, in 

 our own country has hitherto occurred but once. This individual, which 

 was an old bird, was killed near Colchester by Mr H. Doubleday, in the 

 Autumn of 1834. A pair were seen. Food and nidification similar to 

 those of the M. flava. 



