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CHAPTER VIII. 



WAGTAILS. 



THE Motacilline birds, or Wagtails, constitute Macgil- 

 livray's nineteenth family ; they are closely connected 

 with the Larks on the one hand, and with the Chats on the 

 other ; they are all birds of slender form, with straight thin 

 bills, long tails, claws generally of moderate length, curved 

 and rather stout, and long broad wings. They reside chiefly 

 in open pastures and meadows, especially delighting in 

 streams, rivers, and other collections of water ; they have 

 a remarkable habit of almost constantly vibrating the body, 

 and especially the tail, hence their common names of Wag- 

 tail and Quaketail. They have a rapid, undulatory flight, 

 which is extremely buoyant and graceful, and a shrill voice 

 without much compass or melody. The family is divided 

 into four genera, of which only two have British represen- 

 tatives; these are the Wagtail genus (Motacilla) and the 

 Quaketail (Budytes). In the first there are three British 

 species, 1st: THE GREY WAGTAIL (Motacilla alba or 

 cinerea), sometimes called the Grey and White, or Cinereous 

 Wagtail. This bird measures about seven inches and a half 

 in length ; the plumage is black and white, with a shading 

 of grey on the back and sides ; there is a black crescent on 

 the fore neck, sometimes very distinct, at others not at all 

 so ; in fact the plumage of this bird varies so much in the 

 admixture of the shades from deep black to pure white at 

 different seasons, and at different stages of growth, as to 

 render it difficult of identification and distinction from some 

 other species, and there has been considerable confusion 

 even among naturalists on the subject. We shall there- 

 fore merely say of it, that with us this bird is only a winter 

 visitant, although it may occasionally breed in this country, 

 and pass on to the next and more common species, to which 

 in habits and appearance this closely assimilates. 



