102 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Adult Male in Breeding Plumage. General colour olive-yellow, 

 the rump lighter ; breast entirely bright yellow, the under tail- 

 coverts of the same colour ; head blue-grey, with a distinct 

 white eyebrow ; bill and feet blackish ; iris brown. Total length, 

 57 inches ; culmen, 0*55 ; wing, 2*95 ; tail, 27 ; tarsus, 0*85. 



Adult Female. Duller in colour than the male, and slightly 

 browner on the head and back : underneath paler yellow, 

 whiter on the throat. Total length, 6 inches ; wing, 3-1. 



Young Still paler than a thedult female, and with dusky 

 spots on the chest; over the eye a streak of tawny buff; ear- 

 coverts brown ; cheeks and throat dull white, becoming 

 browner on the fore-neck and chest. The young birds of 

 the Blue-headed Wagtail are scarcely distinguishable from those 

 of the Yellow Wagtail. 



Range in Great Britain. An accidental visitor in summer to 

 England and Scotland, principally to the eastern coasts. We 

 ourselves once shot a fine male bird in Sussex, near Pagham, in 

 May, in company with Yellow Wagtails. Mr. John Hancock 

 has certified to the nesting of the species in Northumberland, 

 and Mr. Menteith Ogilvie has shown us some birds killed by 

 him in Suffolk during the nesting season which appeared to be 

 females of M.flava, though the latter are difficult to distinguish 

 from the females of M. campestris when their plumage becomes 

 worn. 



Nest. Similar to that of the Yellow Wagtail, and built in 

 similar situations. 



Eggs. Four to six in number, and, as might have been ex- 

 pected, very similar in character to those of the Yellow Wag- 

 tail. As a rule they appear to be more uniform in tint than is 

 the case with the latter bird, the series in the British Museum 

 not showing the mottled Warbler-like eggs which are often 

 found in a series of those of M. campsstris. Axis, 07-075 

 inch; diain., o - 55-o - 6. 



THE PIPITS. GENUS ANTHUS. 



Anthus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., iii., p. 704 (1807). 

 Type, A. trivialis (Linn.). 



The Pipits differ from the Wagtails in having a brown 



