PIED WAGTAIL. 425 



vernal and autumnal periods of change. Considering our 

 bird as a distinct species, I have not identified it with the 

 localities inhabited by the true M. alba. It is probable, 

 as suggested by Mr. Gould, that the Channel is the 

 line of boundary, although stragglers from either side 

 may have been, and probably will be, found on the opposite 

 shores. It appears from what is known of the habits of 

 our bird, and the circumstance of Mr. Gould having re- 

 ceived examples of it from Norway and Sweden, that our 

 Pied Wagtail migrates due north and south. Brunnich, 

 in lu's Ornithologia Borealis, page 70, decidedly refers to a 

 variety of M. alba, besides including the bird itself; but 

 the excellent coloured figure in the Fauna of Scandinavia, 

 by M. Nilsson, of Lund, represents the true M. alba of 

 Linneus, the bird next to be described. 



The adult male in the plumage of the breeding season, 

 which begins to appear in March, and is completed in 

 April, has the beak and irides almost black ; the forehead, 

 the lore, or space between the beak and the eye, the part 

 surrounding the eye, the ear-coverts, the cheeks, and a 

 portion of the side of the neck, pure white ; the crown of 

 the head, nape of the neck, back, scapulars, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts, black ; the small and great wing-co- 

 verts black, broadly edged, and tipped with white; pri- 

 mary and secondary quill-feathers black, with narrow 

 lighter-coloured outer edges ; the third, fourth, and fifth 

 primaries, with some white on the inner web ; the tertials, 

 one of which is very long, black, with broad white outer 

 borders; the eight central tail-feathers black; the two 

 outer tail-feathers, on each side, white, with a black edge 

 on the inner web ; chin, throat, and neck in front, and 

 on the sides, black, which, uniting with the same colour on 

 the anterior part of the wings and scapulars, surrounds 

 the white on the side of the neck ; breast, belly, and 



