AFRICAN WAGTAIL. 561 



long, and slightly curved: the female has the 

 colour of the under parts of the body very pale, 

 nearly approaching to white : the young birds are 

 less vivid in their colour than the old, which also 

 become very pale in the winter, and possess an 

 olivaceous band on the breast. 



This agrees in habits and general manners with 

 the other species of the genus : its nest is placed 

 on the ground, and is composed of dried stalks and 

 fibres, and lined with hair : the eggs are very like 

 those of the Sedge Warbler, are four or five in 

 number, of a pale brown, sprinkled with a darkened 

 shade. It visits the southern parts about March, 

 and returns in September : it delights in moist 

 meadows and corn-fields, but it does not affect 

 watery places so much as the other indigenous 

 species. It is found in Sweden, Russia, Siberia, 

 and France, remaining the whole year in the latter 

 place. 



AFRICAN WAGTAIL. 

 (Motacilla Afra.) 



Mo.Jlavescentefusca subtusjlava, crisso albo, superciliis alis cau- 



daque nigris. 

 Yellowish-brown Wagtail, beneath yellow, with the vent white, 



eyebrows, wings, and tail, black. 

 Motacilla Afra. Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. 962. LaM. Lid. Orn. 2. 



505. 11. 

 La petite Bergeronette du Cap de Bonne Esperance. Buff. 



Hist. Nat. Ois. 5. 274. 

 African Wagtail. Lath. Gen. Syn. 4. 402. 0. 



