THE GREY WAGTAIL. 181 







between the axle-box and axle-guard. In one such instance (described in the 

 "Zoologist" for January, 1893, p. 30) the nest was discovered in November with 

 " two eggs, one quite warm, having been recently laid." It does not however 

 follow that, because a bird continues to roost on a nest containing unhatched eggs, 

 the latter are necessarily recently deposited. I have known many birds in captivity 

 to retire to their old nests when they have felt unwell, or in cold weather, and it 

 is quite likely that they also do the same when at liberty. 



Family MOTA CILLIDsE. 



THE GREY WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla melanope, PALL. 



HOWARD SAUNDERS gives the following as the distribution of this species < 

 outside Britain : " On the Continent the Grey Wagtail barely reaches the 

 extreme south of Sweden, and is very rare in Northern Germany, while in Russia 

 it is hardly found beyond the latitude of Moscow ; but in the mountainous and 

 even rolling ground of the central and southern parts of Europe it is fairly 

 common ; breeding as far south as the basin of the Mediterranean, where it is a 

 resident, as it is also in the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores. Eastward, it is 

 found in summer across Asia, south of about 67 N. lat., to Persia, Turkestan, the 

 Himalayas, Northern China, and Japan ; wintering in India, Burma, the Indo- 

 Malayan Islands, Palestine, and Northern Africa." 



In Great Britain the Grey Wagtail is resident, breeding chiefly in the 

 mountainous districts, though occasionally in the plains : it is somewhat local in 

 England, Wales, and Ireland, being more frequently seen in the south of England 

 during the winter than the summer months. 



In breeding plumage the male of this exceedingly graceful bird is chiefly 

 slaty-grey above, the head slightly darker ; but the rump and upper tail-coverts 



VOL. I. 2 H 



