PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 223 



15-13 mm.]. The first eggs are laid about the end of April, and the second brood 

 in June, while a third is sometimes reared. Incubation, chiefly if not entirely 

 by the hen, lasts 13-14 days (W. Evans, Ibis, 1891, p. 60, and 1892, p. 57; 

 Zool, 1910, p. 117). [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Chiefly insects. The young are fed by both parents on flies, 

 small caterpillars, and other insects (W. Farren). 



6. Song Period. From February to June, and again from August to 

 November (C. and H. Alexander in British Birds, i. 370). 



WHITE-WAGTAIL [Motacitta alba alba, Linnaeus. French, lavan- 

 diere ; German, weisse Bachstelze ; Italian, ballerina], 



1. Description. The male in summer plumage differs from the male pied- 

 wagtail only in having the back and rump pearl-grey. (No Plate.) The female is 

 smaller than the male the wing 5-7 mm. shorter has the black areas smaller in 

 size, and a tinge of grey on the crown, and the white of the forehead often tinged 

 with grey. The tail is also shorter. Length 7'5 in. [190 mm.]. Though the two 

 species are easily distinguishable in summer, in winter they are not readily recog- 

 nisable, but the white-wagtail has a greater amount of white on the wing-coverts, 

 and a paler grey back, and grey instead of black tail-coverts, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. This is the Continental representative of our pied-wagtail. 

 It is generally distributed over the Continent, and also breeds in Iceland. It 

 breeds in small numbers in the maritime counties of England and Wales, and 

 there are records of its doing so inland, also in the N.W. Highlands and Fair Isle. 

 It occasionally interbreeds with our local race. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. The white- wagtail is a summer visitor, in small numbers, 

 within the limits of its British breeding area, but is otherwise only a bird 

 of passage. Till the lighthouse and other records were summarised by 

 Mr. Eagle Clarke (cf. Report Brit. Assoc., 1900, pp. 409-413), the movements 

 were not understood at all, and since then comparatively little has been added 

 to our knowledge on this point, although much remains to be learnt (but see also 

 British Birds, voL i. pp. Ill, 112 : and B. 0. C. Migration Reports, i. p. 124, ii. p. 101, 

 iii. p. 107, iv. pp. 107 and 189). The following is a summary of the movements 

 within our area so far as known : (1) In March and April the English breeding 

 birds arrive on the south coast ; (2) chiefly between mid- April and mid-May a 

 well-marked migration of birds of passage takes place along the western sea- 

 boards of both Great Britain and Ireland this becomes especially noticeable 



