226 WAGTAILS AND PIPITS 



and though the hen takes the greater part, the cock also assists occasionally. 

 [F. c. E. J.] 



5. Food. Beetles, flies, and other insects, including many aquatic species, 

 small crustaceans and molluscs. The young are fed by both parents, chiefly, at 

 least, on insects. 



6. Song Period. Not recorded. 



YELLOW-WAGTAIL [Motacilla ftava rayi (Bonap. ). Cow-bird, barley- 

 bird, yellow-Molly, yellow- wagster, seed-fool, oatseed-bird. French, ber- 

 geronette d tete jaune], 



1. Description. Distinguished by the uniform bright olive-green of the 

 upper surface, clearer and brighter yellow on the side of the head, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts : lores and superciliary streak bright yellow ; auriculars yellow bordered 

 with yellowish olive; under surface of body bright canary-yellow. (PL 27.) Some 

 males are almost entirely yellow ; but all, before the autumn moult, fade to an 

 ashy-greenish above, and dull pale yellow below. The lesser wing-coverts are 

 coloured like the back ; the median and greater coverts blackish brown, tipped 

 with yellowish white. Inner secondaries margined with dull white. Two outer 

 tail feathers white, with an oblique brown stripe along the inner web, the third 

 with white outer web, and irregular edge of white on inner ; rest, blackish brown 

 edged yellowish olive. Length 6'30 in. [160 mm.]. The female is distinguish- 

 able by her duller coloration, lacking the yellow on the forehead, and her smaller 

 size. The throat and breast are markedly paler, and there is a trace of a dark 

 prepectoral gorget. Fledglings greyish brown above, with dusky mottlings on the 

 back ; upper tail-coverts mottled with brown, a black superciliary stripe, and a 

 white stripe behind the eye ; ear-coverts brown. Under parts dull white, tinged 

 on the breast with buff, or fulvous : flanks greyish : throat and pectoral area 

 marked with a horse-shoe gorget of dull black. Under tail-coverts dull yellow. 

 After the autumn moult the adult male is rather greener above than in summer, 

 while the throat and prepectoral region display an incipient gorget, which is more 

 marked in the female. Young birds, after the autumn moult, are olive-brown 

 above, inclining to olive-yellow on the lower back and rump and upper tail- 

 coverts. The superciliary stripe is of a pale fawn-brown, the ear-coverts brown ; 

 throat and chest pale fawn-brown, with an indistinct gorget on the throat ; 

 abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts bright yellow, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. As in the case of the black- and white-wagtails, two local 



