GREY-HEADED WAGTAIL. 415 



in April, and departing in September: it is excellently 

 figured by M. Nilsson in the coloured illustrations of his 

 Fauna of Scandinavia, and in his Tour in Lapland, Lin- 

 neus mentions having seen this bird in that country 

 on the 22nd of May 1732. This species is found in 

 Sicily and Malta. William Thompson, Esq. while at 

 sea in the month of April, 1841, on his passage from 

 Malta to the Morea, noticed six of these birds visiting the 

 deck of the vessel, and it is found also in Algeria, Nubia, 

 and Egypt. Mr. Gould states that he has received skins 

 of this bird from the Himalaya mountains ; and M. Tem- 

 minck includes it also in his Catalogue of the Birds of 

 Japan. 



This bird makes its nest on the ground in holes, some- 

 times among exposed roots of trees, in cornfields and mea- 

 dows, laying about six eggs, which, as figured in several 

 Continental works, are so much like those of our common 

 summer visitor to be in future called Ray's Wagtail, that 

 they can scarcely be distinguished. The food of this bird, 

 according to M. Temminck, is flies, moths, small green 

 caterpillars, and aquatic insects. 



The figure at the head of this article was taken, as be- 

 fore observed, from a British-killed specimen. I am in- 

 debted to Mr. Henry Doubleday for a pair of these birds ; 

 and Mr. Hoy has very kindly allowed me the use of seven 

 specimens killed at different seasons of the year. From 

 these ten examples I am enabled to supply the following 

 descriptions. 



The adult male, during that part of spring and summer 

 which may be said to constitute the breeding-season, has 

 the beak black ; the irides dusky brown ; the top of the 

 head, the lore, or space between the beak and the eye, 

 the ear-coverts, and nape of the neck, lead-grey ; over the 



