258 BIRDS. 



tail. It builds on the ground, and cheers us with its pleasing song 

 even in the middle of winter (a). 



MOTACILLA, BecllSt. 



The Wagtails, to a still slenderer bill than that of the Fauvettes, add a 

 long tail which they are continually raising and depressing, long legs, and 

 scapular feathers sufficiently extended to cover the tip of the folded wing, 

 which gives them an affinity with the greater number of Waders. 



MoTACILLA, CuV. 



The true Wagtails still have the nail of the thumb curved like the rest 

 of the group. They live along the shores of water courses. 



That of France {Mot. alba and cinerea, L.), Enl. 652, is ash- 

 coloured above, white beneath; a calotte on the occiput; throat and 

 breast, black. 



The south of Europe produces one which, when old, has a black 

 back, but resembling the preceding when young. It is the Mot. 

 luguhris, Roux, 194. 



BuDYTES*, Cuv. 



In addition to the other characters of the true Wagtails, the nail of the 

 thumb is here elongated and but slightly arcuated, which approximates 

 these birds to the Larks. They generally remain in pastures, and pursue 

 insects among the cattle. The most common is, 



Mot.fava; Bergeronnette de print ems; Enl. 674, 2. Ash-co- 

 loured above, olive on the back, yellow beneath ; the eyebrow and 

 two-thirds of the lateral quills of the tail white f. 



Anthus, Bechst. 



The Meadow Larks were long united to the Larks {Alauda), on ac- 

 count of the long nail of their thumb; but their slender and emarginated 

 bill approximates them to the other warblers, at the same time that their 

 secondary quills and coverts, which are as short as usual, will not allow 

 them to be confounded with budytes. Those which still have the nail 

 somewhat arcuated are in the habit of perching. 



A. arboreus, Bechst. ; Alauda trivialis and minor, Gm. ; the Pipi, 

 Enl. 660, Ij:; Naum. 84, 2, Roux. Olive-brown above, reddish- 



* Budytes, from its being seen among cattle, 

 t Add the Mot. boarula, L. Edw., 259, and Vieill. Gal. 162. 



X Under the false name of Farlouse; the Pivote ortolane, BufF. Enl. 642, 2 (Mota- 

 cilla maculata, Gm.), is the young bird. See Roux, 288. 



grf {a) The Wrens foreign to Europe are allied to the Ant-catchers on the one 

 hand, and to the Creepers on the other. Add the Thriotore a long bee {Thr. longi- 

 rostris, Vieill. Gal. 168, or Kampijlorhynchus scolopaceus, Spix, 79). [Add Trog. 

 aedon, Wils. I, jil. iii, f. 3; — Trog. palusiris {Thyothorus arundinaceus, Vieill.), Wils. 

 II, pi. xii, f. 4; — Trog. ludovicianus (Sylvia ludoviciaiia. Lath,), Wils. II, pi. xii, 

 f. v.— Eng. Ed.] 



