i8o BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



Family MOTA CILLID^. 



THE WHITE WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla alba, LlNN. 



DISTRIBUTED over the whole of Europe and breeding as far north as land 

 extends : it is also believed to breed in Egypt, and it certainly does so in 

 the Highlands of Palestine, Asia Minor and Persia, to which countries it is also 

 a winter visitor. In the autumn the European birds travel southwards, wintering 

 in Southern Evirope, North Africa, southward to Senegal and eastward to Zanzibar. 

 It is also said sometimes to visit the Canaries. 



Mr. Bond first recognised this as a British bird in 1841, since when it has 

 occurred more or less commonly in Cornwall, Devonshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, 

 Middlesex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, 

 Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, and Northumberland. In 

 Scotland it has been seen as far north as Inverness and even in Shetland ; it has 

 also occurred on the island of Lewis after rough weather. From Ireland only one 

 authenticated specimen is recorded. 



The White Wagtail in general appearance, habits, and nidification, nearly 

 resembles the Pied species, but differs in the grey colouring of its back and lesser 

 wing-coverts ; the white on the cheeks and sides of neck extended, so as completely 

 to disunite the black of the crown and nape from that of the throat and breast ; 

 the tail also is said to be longer, but this is certainly a variable character. The 

 female shows no black on the nape and back, as in the Pied Wagtail. 



It is evident that the White Wagtail is not aware of the importance of the 

 above distinctions, inasmuch as there are certainly two instances known of its 

 pairing with the Pied species in a wild state, one of these being represented by 

 the nest exhibited with old birds and young at the Natural History Museum, 

 obtained in Norfolk by Lord Walsingham. 



Mr. Frohawk and I saw a fine example of this species in Kent, but we failed 

 to secure the specimen : it would have been very useful for the present work. 



Several instances are on record of the " Water Wagtail " (which might mean 

 either the Pied or the White Wagtail) making its nest under a railway truck, 



