MOTACILLID.E MOTACILLA 259 



7terr*^rt&& 



149. Motacilla capensis. Cape Wagtail. 



MotaciUa capensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 333 (1766) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. 



p. 118 (1867) ; Gurney inAnderssorts B. DamaraLand, p. Ill (1872) ; 



Holub and Pelzeln, Orn. Siidafr. p. 82 (1882) ; Butler, Feilden and 



Reid, Zoologist, 1882, p. 337 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard 1 8 B. S. Afr. pp. 



547, 853 (1884) ; id. Cat. B. M. x, p. 493 (1885) : Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 



11 (1896). 

 La Lavandiere brune, Leva/ill. Ois. d'Afr. iv, p. 80, pi. 177 (1805). 



" Quick Stertje " of the Dutch. 



Description. Adult male. Above, brown ; wing-coverts like 

 the back, edged with grey ; quills darker brown, the first edged 

 with white ; tail-feathers dusky-brown, the outer pair white, crossed 

 diagonally by a brown streak ; crown and back of neck greyish- 

 brown ; narrow eyebrow white ; lores, feathers below eye, and ear- 

 coverts dusky ; cheeks and throat white, the lower throat crossed 

 by a broad crescent of black ; rest of under surface white tinged 

 with yellow, the sides browner ; under tail-coverts white ; thighs 

 and axillaries brown ; under wing-coverts white with dusky bases ; 

 under surface of quills dusky, the base of the inner webs white ; 

 edge of wing mottled brown and white. 



Iris hazel ; bill, legs and feet brownish. 



Length 7'25 ; wing 3'25 ; tail 3-45 ; tarsus O90 ; culmen O60. 



Adult female. Duller than the male in colour, the black chest- 

 band narrower, also rather smaller. 



Length 6'85 ; wing 3-20 ; tail 3 : 35. 



Young. The head brown like the back ; the white throat 

 tinged with brown ; the greater wing-coverts distinctly tipped with 

 white. 



Distribution. South Africa : abundant throughout Cape Colony, 

 and very common on the Orange Eiver, but becomes rarer to the 

 north of this ; extends to the Guano Islands off the west coast. 

 Local and not common in Great Namaqualand, Damara Land, and 

 Benguela. Abundant in the higher districts in Natal but uncommon 

 on the coast. Eesident throughout the Orange Free State and the 

 Transvaal, becoming rarer to the north of the Limpopo River, in 

 Matabili and Mashonalands. Somewhat local in Griqualand West 

 and Bechuanaland. 



Habits. This species, the commonest Wagtail, and one of the 

 tamest and most familiar birds in South Africa, is nearly every- 

 where a resident or only subject to local migrations of no great 

 extent. Although most abundant on the banks of rivers or vleis 



