92 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Europe and Asia, and migrate south in winter to Africa, India, 

 China, and the Malayan peninsula and islands. 



THE WAGTAILS. GENUS MOTACILLA. 



Motacilla, Linn. Syst. Nat., i., p. 328 (1766). 



Type, M. alba, Linn. 



These birds get their popular name from the curious dipping 

 motion of the tail, which accompanies every movement of the 

 body. They are divisible into two groups, the " Pied " and 

 "Yellow" Wagtails, or "Water" and "Field" Wagtails, most 

 of the water-loving species being black-and-white or grey, and 

 the field-frequenting species belonging to the yellow group. 

 No structural characters, however, can be found to divide these 

 two sections of the genus Motatilla, and we have, therefore, 

 included all the species under one generic heading. 



Of the black-and-white Wagtails fourteen species are known, 

 and they are more or less migratory. This is certainly the 

 case with the species which breed in northern latitudes, but 

 there are at least three species peculiar to Africa, and two to 

 India. Representing our European Wagtails, M. lugubris and 

 M. alba in Eastern Asia, breeding in the north, and migrating 

 south in winter, are three species, M. ocularis, M. /ugens, M. 

 leucopsis ; these are all birds of the Manchurian subregion, to 

 which geographical area, a fourth species, M. grandis, seems to 

 be confined. As is the case with the Yellow Wagtails, there is, 

 among the Pied section of the genus, a tendency to found 

 isolated colonies ; hence we find in Persia a race of the White 

 Wagtail, which has been called M. persica, while in Central 

 Siberia there is another race, which is known as M. baicakmis, 

 from its having first been noticed near Lake Baikal. 



The Wagtail of Madagascar, M. flaviventris, and the Grey 

 Wagtail of Europe, M. melanope, are "Water" Wagtails, with 

 the colouring of Yellow Wagtails. Nearly every one of the 

 latter come northward and breed every season, and retire south 

 in winter. The Black-headed Yellow Wagtail, M. feldeg^ii, is 

 perhaps the one which wanders least, and its two races, M. 

 paradoxa, from South-eastern Europe, and M. xanthophrys, 

 from Lenkoran, have a very limited range. 



